Benambra beef producer Max Pendergast is a long-time supporter of the annual Mountain Calf Sales, and is optimistic about how his draft of 90 Hereford calves will sell this year.
“At last year's calf sales, we sold the steers for $1140 a head and got $940/hd for our heifers so it would be nice to get something around that price,” he said.
“But it is hard to say what will happen, particularly with the tough season we’ve had. A lot of the calves go to repeat buyers so I hope they will be back.”
Mr Pendergast and his wife Margaret run the family property, Kimberley Park, in partnership with his brother Ray and wife Judy.
Trading as Ray and Max Pendergast, they will sell 70 mixed-sex May/June drop calves at this year’s Benambra Hereford sale on Tuesday, March 12. They will also offer a further 20 at the Hinnomunjie sale prior.
The Pendergast family decided to keep the calves with the cows for as long as possible, only weaning during the last month.
“Last winter was tough and we had very little spring rain, now it is really dry and the water is beginning to cut out.
“We fed a lot of supplementary hay during the winter after calving and since then we have had to carefully manage our fodder reserves as the hay was running out.
“There was no feed to wean the calves onto, so it was better off for them to be running with the cows.”
The calves were paddock-weaned in February and supplemented with grass hay to settle them.
Although it has been a challenging season, Mr Pendergast is pleased with the condition of the calves and estimates the tops will weigh 340 kilograms to 350kg.
They have been sourcing genetics from Nunniong, Spring Valley and Karoonda, for many years now and have been happy with the results from their progeny.
Currently running 180 breeders including heifers, they have reduced numbers by 30 head due to the dry.
