Agents reported strong results at the Omeo Angus and Angus/Hereford cross sale today.
Around 3000 head were yarded with steers reaching $2090 a head.
Elders southern zone livestock manager Matt Tinkler said it was always expected the heavier cattle would do well, but the lighter cattle also brought good prices.
"What probably has really blown us away, if you look back through that middle run of steer calves, it just didn't miss a beat," he said.
"We were selling fairly light calves still at $1650.
"We've seen sales leading up this year on or around that, but that certainly exceeded our expectations, and same on the heifers.
"We were still selling really light heifers at the bottom end of the sale for $1350, $1400."
Bidding began with D & M Plowman's pen of 12 steers, which made $1900 a head.
The same vendor also sold a pen of 14 for $1780.
BC & GC Flynn sold 33 for $1900, another 46 for $1900, while GV & JG Crisp sold a pen of 16 for $1950.
M Hadwidl made $2090 for a pen of seven and A Hayward sold a pen of seven for $1960.
Feature lines included FA & DM Boulton, who sold a total of 211 head.
Their pen of 42 made $1950, a pen of 20, $1900, and another pen of 20 reached $1840.
Another two pens of 20 made $1750 each.
Black Mountain Station also sold a big draft, with a pen of 38 making $1700, a pen of 35, $1690, and another pen of 35 selling for $1670.
CE & DE Anderson sold 32 for $1880, 20 for $1820 and another 20 for $1800.
WA Pendergast and Sons sold 16 for $1800 and WC McCole made $1830 for a pen of five.
The run of heifers began with Meringo Pastoral selling 38 for $1780, while BJ & JB Carroll sold seven for $1730.
FA & DM Boulton had another line of heifers, with 46 making $1670, 63 selling for $1570, and 42 making $1580.
GH & AJ Burston and Partners sold 22 for $1790 and another pen of 22 for $1760.
Tamcal sold a pen of 20 for $1740 and got the same price for a pen of 31.
Mr Tinkler said buyers from New South Wales had been strong, particularly Tamworth and Gunnedah areas, and there was also feedlot competition to secure a winter kill supply.
"The positive thing we are seeing a lot of, that we haven't probably enough for a long time, is people buying females to join and retain," he said.
"That's a result of weaners making the money - the breeding's going to be the game for the next little while."
Weights for the mid range cattle were consistent but the top weights were slightly down on other years, he said.
"It was fairly cold here this morning, you're starting to see the season turn a little bit and the cattle just start to put a little bit more into conserving energy, and that can impact the weights," he said.
"I thought we saw some excellent frame and bone in the cattle and that's why we see such great feedlot demand, because they convert so well.
"Although there maybe wasn't a lot of cattle up over 400kg, we certainly saw the frame and maturity in the cattle to go onto feed and really perform quite quickly."
European Union accredited cattle were in demand, he said, although buyers would still pay similar prices for non EU cattle that were good quality.
"It has paid this year to be EU accredited," he said.
"We had a large run of calves that were EU accredited and they were bought and kept in the system."