Good rains in the west are likely to keep prices high at Colac, as restockers step into the market.
Charles Stewart Dove livestock agent Andrew Dalton said 620 head of steers, heifers and cows and calves were yarded at the monthly Colac store sale.
"They are starting to see a few more odds-and-sods coming through," Mr Dalton said.
"There are not that many big lines of cattle as what we saw through the weaner sales.
"But you're getting $1600-1700 for 350kg calves, people are seeing that and grabbing it with both hands."
He said there was no real northern influence in the market, although a few cattle went around the Wangaratta area.
Prices were unlikely to ease in the near future.
"The way the rain is coming through now, it's not going to go that way," Mr Dalton said.
"The season down here is unbelievable - there is regrowth in cut crops, they are knee high, so there is still a lot of feed around."
The bulk of the yarding was between 250-350kg, selling for about 500 cents a kilogram.
Nutrien Ag Solutions Livestock manager Phil Douglas said there were a lot of "tail-enders", from the autumn drop, presented at the sale.
"Everybody was reasonably happy with the way it went, we had a bit of competition from feeders in northern and western Victoria," Mr Douglas said.
"A lot of little steers are still trading at 550c/kg plus and we had a good line of heifers, which came out at $1695, averaging just on 350kg.
"They went into the feeder job."
Nutrien Wangaratta was strong and Clarke Roycroft was also bidding.
"Warrnambool underpinned the job, they were chasing a few," he said.
"They were quite active on good lines of cattle, females and steers.
"You couldn't call it a winter yarding, just the tail end of cattle coming in, so there weren't the big lines - nicely bred, but not big lines."
Recent rain followed good falls, of a month ago.
"This will be follow up and if we keep getting this, it will perfect," he said."
P&L Facey sold two steers, unweighed, for $1400.
D Mitchell sold one steer for $1250.
R & W Walters sold one Arundell-bred Angus steer, 620kg, for $2090 or 337c/kg.
A Barber sold one Angus steer, 495kg, for $2090 or 422c/kg.
Barber also sold three Charolais-cross steers, 468kg, for $1980 or 423c/kg.
L & B Lauricella sold five Murdeduke-blood steers, 370kg, for $1800 or 486c/kg.
A second pen of nine, 293kg, sold for $1570 or 535c/kg.
J Burns sold six Angus steers, 425kg, for $1870 or 440c/kg.
Glen Brae sold four Angus steers, 375kg, for $1800, or 480c/kg.
A Cutherbertson sold to Angus heifers, 465kg, for $1640, or 352c/kg.
B Sexton sold three Speckle Park heifers, 335kg, for $1700, or 507c/kg.
D&H Holland sold eight Angus/Friesian-cross heifers, 392kg, for $1660, 423c/kg.
W&M McGuane sold five Hereford/Friesian-cross heifers, 399kg, for $1660 or 416c/kg.
Riverview sold Ythanbrae-blood heifers, 14-16 months, 377kg for $1695 or 449c/kg.
Riverview's seconds, 27 heifers, 344kg, also sold for $1695 or 492c/kg while the third pen of 17, 399kg, went for $1695 as well or 436c/kg.
D Mitchell sold three heifers, unweighed, for $1040.
L & B Lauricella sold 12 Murdeduke-blood heifers, 275kg, for $1500 or 545c/kg.
CLC sold six x six Angus/Friesian cows with second Limousin calf-at-foot for $3000.
CLC sold five x five cows and calves for $3020.
JB&JM Green sold 12 x 12 Angus/Friesian-cross cows, Otway Angus-blood, with first and second January-drop Bushy Park-blood calves-at-foot, redpastured to a Dean Park Angus bull for $2520.
Green also sold five x five Angus/Friesian-cross cows and calves for $2350.
B Sexton sold one Angus cow with calf-at-foot for $2750.
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
