Red hot prices prompted Colac producers to sell spring-drop weaners at the centre's monthly store sale last week.
Agents initially thought they would offer 600 head, but that grew to 982 steers, heifers, cows and calves by the time the auction started.
Charles Stewart auctioneer Jamie McConachie said recent sales at other centres had promoted the idea of offloading stock while the job was still so dear.
"Winter, south of here, can be a very challenging time - producers have realised that and are starting to sell spring-drop weaner calves," Mr Conachie said.
Most steers offered ranged in weight from 300-400 kilograms.
"We were giving that 500-600 cents a kilogram a hammering and some better type pens were certainly exceeding 600c/kg, which is on par with what is happening elsewhere," Mr McConachie said.
"There wasn't a lot of weight and we were able to handle what we had, mainly for backgrounders."
Mr McConachie said prices for unweighed steers were even higher.
"Some of those unweighed cattle could have been between 700-800 cents," he said.
Northern Victoria Livestock, Shepparton, bought several drafts, along with Ballarat Meat Company, HF Richardson and Southern Grampians Livestock, who picked up the bulk of the yarding.
Agents said quite a few cattle went back into local paddocks.
Koallah Park sold 14 Red Poll steers, 365kg 18 months old, for $1570 or 430c/kg.
D & M Middleton sold 10 Mountt William-blood steers, 375kg, for $1700 or 453c/kg.
G Cropley sold two Angus steers, 405kg, for $1710 or 422c/kg.
Elderwood sold six Bushy Park-blood steers, 364kg, for $1840 or 505c/kg.
M & H Lenahan sold 10 Banquet-blood steers, 333kg, for $1650 or 495c/kg.
AJ Turner sold 11 Tillabudgery-blood steers, 333kg, for $1600 or 480c/kg.
Nutrien Ag Solutions Colac manager Paul Kerr said producers, offloading cattle before winter, boosted numbers.
"You were looking at 600-700c/kg, for the lighter weaners," Mr Kerr said.
"It was good strong demand, which is good for the area - cattle seem to be getting smaller - but they are still staying up there in price.
"There were some good quality pens of calves that were buyable, but it dropped off to towards the end."
Charles Stewart Dove livestock consultant Shelby Howard agreed unweighed, lighter steers made up to 700c/kg.
"We saw a bit of a 'wintriefied' yarding, a bit of a mixed yarding, typical for this time of year," Mr Howard said.
"There were a lot of lightweight calves here - it was solid enough for the better bred cattle.
"We pretty much handled them all ourselves."
TA & DE Richardson sold six Meath Park-blood steers, 285kg, for $1500 or 526c/kg.
M Adams sold 13 Weeran-blood steers, seven-eight-months, 335kg, for $1890 or 564c/kg.
Adams second pen of nine steers, 264kg, sold for $1600 or 606/kg.
JV & CR Gannon sold 10 Murdeduke-blood steers, 288kg, for $1640 or 569c/kg.
Te Aro sold 15 Weeran-blood steers, 274kg, for $1510 or 551c/kg.
H Bryant sold five Mount William-blood Charolais steers, 318kg, for $1650 or 518c/kg.
KA & DJ Harper sold five Lawson-blood steers, unweighed, for $1330.
Harper's 15 steers, four-six months, sold for $1170.
Estimated to weigh 180kg, they made an about 650c/kg.
Harper's third pen of 18, four-six months old, estimated to weigh 150kg, sold for $1090 or and estimated 726c/kg.
Bull Dust Park sold 13 Murdeduke-blood steers, unweighed, for $1460.
The Harpers sold 20 Picasso and Incredible-blood heifers, 20-months, for $1210.
They also sold eight Angus heifers, four-six months, for $840 and another pen of 19 for $825.
Mackay Brothers sold 11 Simmental heifers, 293kg, for $1350 or 460c/kg.
J Berry sold five Tanybryn Park-blood heifers, 280kg, for $1360 or 485c/kg.
MJ & HR Lenahan sold five Banquet-blood heifers, 298kg, for $1380 or 463c/kg.
E & D Stinchcombe sold nine cows with calves at foot, Angus Friesian/Angus-cross heifers with four-six week-old Angus calves, not rejoined, for $3000.
They sold seven cow and calf units for $3040 and 17 Angus/Friesian-cross cows with four-six week-old Angus calves at foot for $2850.
LS & RP Sutherland sold seven Speckle Park/Friesian-cross heifers for $1350.
Fairbank sold eight cows with Blue Lake-blood calves at foot for $2375.
HR and BA Beach sold three cows with calves at foot for $2520.
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.
