Quality cattle were seen at Pakenham last week, with many pens of forward store to fat condition yearling steers and bullocks penned.
Everitt Seeley & Bennetts were the first agent to sell, and they offered two lanes of quality Angus bullocks and yearling steers.
Strong demand for feeder steers created stronger prices.
J&S Wineke, Flinders, sold 10 bullocks, 626 kilograms, for $1650 a head, followed by Burnside, Coldstream, selling 45 Angus steers between $1390-$1550.
Several other pens of Angus steers sold from $1360-$1510, which equaled 285-303 cents a kilogram.
The pride of the sale was 116 Angus, Hereford and Angus/Hereford steers from Clondrisse Pastoral Company, Flinders.
Owned by Lawrence Baillieu, and managed by David and Lynee Henson, these steers, 12-13 months, had been yard weaned in November on grass for three weeks, then grazed on fodder rape.
These steers weighed from 376-476kg, and sold from $1130-$1410.
Processors purchased these steers, either for slaughter, but mostly for grain feeding.
There were a lot of steers, and some heifers, purchased for grain feeding, from a total yarding of 2500 head.
Cattle were supplied from a vast area, although most came from all parts of Gippsland, also from the north-east of Melbourne, and one larger draft of steers from Coolah and Rockley, NSW.
These cattle were in plain, store condition, but they were not alone, as some consignments coming from drought areas of Gippsland were in equally poor condition.
At the top end of the weaned steers was 14 Belgian Blue/Angus-cross steers of M&S Reedy, Garfield, which sold for $1095 to a grain feeder.
Several good sales of lighter weight steers were noted throughout the sale, one of these was the 127 Angus steers from Camoola, Beveridge.
These steers were being sold early due the lack of grass and water.
Weighing from 227-292kg, and averaging 257kg, strong competition saw them sell from $595-$945, equaling mostly 286-335c/kg.
Paspaley Rural, NSW, sold 88 Poll Hereford steers from $435-$600.
The ratio of heifers to steers was small, but included some very good quality heifers.
Demand for feeder heifers, from both private and processor buyers, did create a slight improvement on price.
Barragunda Estate, Cape Schanck, sold 18 Angus heifers, 411kg, for $1080, and Hunter Agriculture Group, Cardinia, sold 32 Angus heifers for $1020, all going to grain feeders.
CT Ferguson, Giffard, sold 61 plain condition Angus heifers, that they would normally have kept, for $590-$785.
Alice Park, Tonimbuk, sold two pens of Friesian bullocks, 469 and 510kg, from $840-$970.
When the sale progressed down to the calf pens, potential buyers could bid on anything from young Friesian steers to good quality European breed steers and heifers; all were only calves, in varying condition.
Prices in this part of the sale were quite good, although some would show little return to the producers; prices ranged mostly between $100-$750.
Finishing off the market was over 180 cows and calves, and many of these were good quality outfits.
Generally, these were good buying, especially considering the size and quality of some of the calves.
J&ML McInnes, Trafalgar, sold seven quality Charolais cows with Ashwood blood Charolais calves at foot, for $1540.
KF McRae, Dalyston, sold 21 Angus-cross cows with Charolais calves at foot, 3-4 weeks, between $1080-$1360.
Most other cows and calves sold between $870-$1250, including 23 Angus cows and calves of R&S Burton, Strzelecki.
These cows were in plainer condition, but had older calves that were in good condition, and sold between $950-$1170.