Leongatha store sale is up, up and away

Nutrien Leongatha livestock manager Brian McCormack said young steers were generally priced in the 440-500c/kg range.

Heavier steers weighing 400-500kg were 410-440c/kg and 350-420kg heifers were around 390-420c/kg.

Buyers came from the north, feedlots and east Gippsland, all the way to Bairnsdale.

Despite the wet conditions, Mr McCormack said, there was also good competition from locals keen to secure cattle.

"Cattle are going to get harder to find, especially when you see east Gippsland guys coming into the south to buy, that starts telling us that it's going to be a bit of an issue," he said.

"East Gippsland's got grass, so they're going to want cattle and their spring sales are starting in a couple of weeks' time and there's not big numbers at them.

"We normally go and buy a lot of cattle from up there, so it's going to get pretty hard to find them."

Mr McCormack said the clients with cattle faced a dilemma when it came to deciding when to go to market.

"The old bird in the hand's pretty good but at the same token, usually July is a bit early to sell," he said.

"Grass fever normally kicks things right into gear, which, for us, is not for another month or two but I think a lot of guys are happy to take the money just at the moment."

There were no bargains left to be found, he said.

"A lot of people that thought they'd try to buy a few now while it's wet," Mr McCormack said.

"Off the top of my head, I could name half a dozen blokes that went home empty handed.

"Once that starts happening well that sets the trend for the next sale.

"Those blokes come back with the same money and and then more as well come and that makes it dearer again, so we're probably probably a month in front of most years, where that normally starts happening in the middle of August."

There were cattle across the north that would soon be putting condition on very quickly, Mr McCormack said, which would also pose difficult choices for buyers.

"When you start talking $4-plus a kilo, you put on an extra 20-25 kilos, well, there's another $100 and then you've got to try to make that back out of it at the other end," he said.

"No one knows what's going to happen.

"We're in an industry deemed as essential - people have got to eat - so it should stay quite good but, with this virus, who knows how it's going to affect the market down the track?"

I&R Hengstberger sold a line of 69 10-month-old Angus steers, with the first pen of 20, 330kg, making $1480 or 444c/kg. Another 24, 307kg, were $1400 or 456c/kg and the final 290kg pen of 25 were $1345 or 463c/kg.

High Voltage sold 15, 10mo Angus, 255kg for $1270 or 498c/kg.

Northside Pastoral's 18, 415kg, Angus 18-month-olds fetched $1770 or 426c/kg and a second slightly lighter 403kg pen of 18, were $1670 or 414c/kg.

St Katherine's had 28, 10mo, Poll Herefords. The 300kg dozen made $1330 or 443c/kg and the other 273kg pen of 16 were $1260 or 461c/kg.

J&P O'Conner sold five Angus-cross two-year-olds weighing 582 kg for $1890 or 324c/kg and another pen of 11, 492kg, for $1680 or 341c/kg.

B&P Svenson sold nine, 445kg, 20-month-old Angus steers for $1670 or 375c/kg.

R&E Gloster sold 22, 14mo, Black Baldies weighing 365kg for $1500 or 410c/kg.

Another pen of 10, 14mo Black Baldies, which weighed 382kg from Cloud Creek made $1630 or 426c/kg.

W Caldwell's 13, 10mo Angus, 330kg, were $1460 or 442c/kg.

D White sold 4, 455kg, Angus 18mo for $1780 or 391c/kg and M Boothy's pair of 422kg Black Baldies were $1610 or 380c/kg.

M&K Hall sold 10, 332kg, Poll Herefords aged 10mo, for $1410 or 424c/kg.

Iron Bar Investments' 11, 10mo, 331kg Poll Herefords were $1430 or 432c/kg.

McGauran Pastoral had a line of 94 Angus heifers. The first pen of 15 weighing 391kg, went for $1580 or 404c/kg, another 25, 388kg, were $1620 or 417c/kg.

A pen of 21, 378kg, were $1520 or 402c/kg, while 18, 349kg, were $1410 or 404c/kg.

The lightest Mc Gauran pen, 348kg, made $1390 or 399c/kg.

R Gloster sold 20, 14mo, Black Baldy 369kg heifers for $1410 or 382c/kg.

T&J Waters' pen of 10, 427kg, Angus were $1630 or 381c/kg.

Have you signed up to Stock & Land's daily newsletter? Register below to make sure you are up to date with everything that's important to Victorian and Tasmanian agriculture.