A wintry day greeted buyers at the East Gippsland Livestock Exchange at Bairnsdale for the fortnightly store cattle sale on Friday.
Agents yarded about 1600 cattle, which was 500 cattle up from the previous store sale.
Elders Bairnsdale livestock manager Morgan Davies said there was predominantly larger and grown steers on offer, while lighter cattle were softer in places compared to previous sales.
"We saw mid 500 cents a kilogram prices for quality feeder cattle and as you got to lighter quality cattle, you got to a cheaper trend of maybe $100 to $150 and in some places it was a little more," he said.
"This is a trend that occurs this time every year."
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There was not too many cows and calves on offer and there was a diminished interest from outside the region, such as from South Gippsland, in comparison to previous months due to a normal mid-winter slump
Despite this, Mr Davies said agents were generally satisfied with the result on the day .
"South and Central Gippsland buyers were not as strong and competitive as what have been in the past, and there was no real northern competition" he said.
"There was only local competition here or feedlot competition."
According to Meat and Livestock Australia, some in the buying gallery were reluctant to compete for certain pens, but some competition existed for Euro-bred lines.
There was a better supply of well-bread weaners with dairy and short-statured cattle also being a feature, with one pen of 17 Euro-cross, 373kg, sold for $2300 a head or 617c/kg.
MLA also reported that a pen of older Herefords, 655kg, sold for $3240 or or 495c/kg.
The best priced weaner heifers were a pen of nine Euro-cross cattle, 403kg, which made $2300 or 571c/kg.