Buyers can expect a quality line-up of easy-doing, hardy cattle when the Hereford portion of the Mountain Calf Sales goes under the hammer, starting at Benambra on Tuesday, March 12.
Kicking off at 3pm, about 1700 Hereford and Hereford/Shorthorn-cross steers and heifers will be offered at Benambra.
This is followed on Wednesday, March 13, at 11am with a yarding of 1100 Hereford weaners at Ensay, and a further 1700 Hereford cattle will be sold at Omeo starting at 2pm.
Elders Omeo manager David Hill said all up, nearly 3500 steers and heifers will be offered across the three Hereford sales, which is down about 1000 head on the previous year’s yarding.
The quality of the Hereford cattle in the High Country is outstanding. They have good doing ability and can handle the tough conditions very well.
- David Hill, Elders Omeo
“Herd numbers have been reduced and cattle sold earlier due to the tough seasonal conditions so there are less calf numbers around,” he said.
“The majority of the cattle sold will be weaned calves born from April through to July/August 2018-drop and will range in weight from 240 kilograms to 360kg.
“These sales are renowned for their strawberry roan cattle. Producers have spent a lot of money feeding their cattle and there has also been significant genetic input.
“The quality of the Hereford cattle in the High Country is outstanding. They have good doing ability and can handle the tough conditions very well.”
He said buyers would comprise a mix of restockers, feedlotters, backgrounders and grass-fed finishers. They are expected to travel from a range of areas throughout north-eastern Vic, parts of NSW and Tasmania.
“The majority of the cattle are EU-accredited, yard-weaned and grass-fed with no antibiotics so they tick all the boxes to go into any system for backgrounding into a feedlot,” he said.
Major vendors at the Benambra sale include Clive and Dianne Anderson, who will offer 150 mixed sex Hereford weaners and RG & AH Faithfull, who will sell 180 EU-accredited Hereford steers and heifers.
At Omeo, regular sale entrants Brendan and Tracey Ah Sam will offer a line of 220 Hereford/Shorthorn-cross calves, while PG & CG Faithfull will sell 250 weaners.