A large gathering of repeat buyers seeking the quality of mountain-bred Hereford cattle buoyed the fourth leg of the Mountain Calf Sales series at Ensay.
Prices for steers weighed at 415 kilograms topped at $1220 a head, and a large portion of the first and second draft-run steer drafts made from $800-$970, with selected pens higher.
Rates bid varied mostly from 250-280 cents a kilogram, while lighter drafts mostly made 230-260c/kg or $600-$770.
Selected drafts within the heifer market were also dominated by a clash between two willing live export orders seeking quality genetics.
In a strange twist, the frequently overlooked whitefaced heifers saw selected lines sell at 300-320c/kg, topping at $1070, while those passed over made 200-260c/kg.
The steer market top was a pen of 20 bred and raised by Barry Newcomen, Ensay, while merely $20 in arrears, his brother Evan Newcomen, Ensay, received $1200 for a yard of 20 that also contained a dominance of Newcomen bloodlines, with a dash of Malton Shornhorn-blood.
These two lots were purchased by a repeat buyer, who has been buying for the past 20 years, Arthur Angliss for his north of Melbourne property at Mickleham, while the draft of each made $1070 and $910 respectively.
Other Hereford breeders to have their pens so astutely valued was CR & JW Lloyd, selling 16 at $970 and a further 30 at $900.
Other vendor pens to pass the $850 mark were Rees Newcomen, 18 sold at $870, and GT Farmer sold 20 also at $870.