A little over a week ago, the road to Mortlake's WVLX had been closed due to major flooding and muddy conditions.
But the October store sale looked a different sight with the sun streaming down and not a cloud in the sky.
The gallery were welcomed with a yarding of more than 5400 cattle, with a wide range of buyers picking up plenty of cattle, particularly weaners.
Weaner steers and heifers regularly passed 650 cents a kilogram with buyers of all stripes competing strongly.
"You had locals, you had backgrounders from Gippsland and many northern buyers who were buying their own selected quality of cattle, which made for a varied sale," Southern Grampians Livestock stock agent Glenn Judd said.
"We had plenty of buyers from our very first pen being two rows deep who were mainly big buyers, but it is good to see a number of farmers having a go."
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Mr Judd said "many pens of 30 and 40 cattle" were at the sale and grown steers were also firmer in price.
"The weaning cattle started off just a little bit easier but as they got lighter we saw them hit around 780-800c/kg all the way through," he said.
"There were also cattle in bits and pieces with smaller pen numbers backing off a bit into the 640-700c/kg bracket."
Grown heifers also fetched prices over 600c/kg regularly.
Mr Judd did not think recent flooding had much impact on the store sale, as drier weather in the days leading up to Thursday meant trucks could deliver cattle with no issues.
"I think in coming months the wet weather will just mean you won't be able to see the water from all the grass, so a very good season in terms of feed coming up, and I think there will be a fair bit of inquiry," he said.
Vendors who had been affected by the wet weather found a silver lining too, including Christopher Wood, Morrisons, who sold five Angus cows with calves at foot, 607kg, for $3150.
He said those cows had to be calved down and moved on, and he was pleased they were sold.
"It's very wet at home, and about half of our farm is underwater, but it is not like those who are up in the north-east," he said.
"It was opportune time for us to decide to move these cows and calves on and make a bit more room as our grass will be growing. If we get a few more sunny days like today, things will look good in that department."
Mr Wood said he did know of some other farmers who had had trouble moving cattle off their properties to sales because of floods but they will reap rewards because of the amount of grass expected to grow.
His daughter Isabelle sold cattle for the first time, selling five Freisian steers, 464kg, for 346c/kg or $1605.
"I reared these Friesian cattle when they were younger and it is about 18 months now, so it is just time for me to sell them in their condition," she said. "I've been in farming my whole life, so it's great to start selling cattle."
A run of over 270 Angus steers sold by Ned Kelly, Wooranbinda, Caramut, was a feature of the sale, with one pen of 41 weaner Angus steers, weighing 461 kg, sold for 640c/kg or $2663 a head.
Mr Kelly said he "had a lot of silage, so it was the perfect time" to sell.
He gave credit for his sale to his "responsible staff and stock manager, Bowes Kelly."
"[We] have rotationally grazed them in one mob for 5-6 months, getting them to 400kg average full weight at about 13 months is a great achievement."
"We had a bet each way, and the other half of the Angus steers were fed in a partly roofed containment area, as there was simply not enough grass to squeeze them out in the paddocks,
"They left in July, August and September although their gross was considerably more, but after feed costs, it is very close, but less, than the net of today's very good result, proving grass fever is well and truly on."
WR & RA Kemp sold 30 Angus steers, 301kg, for 760c/kg or $2293.
N & J Lillie sold a pen of 30 Hereford steers, 392kg, for 632c/kg or $2475 and another pen of 34 Hereford steers, 340kg for 658c/kg or $2238.
Hazelmont sold a pen of 44 Angus steers, 578kg, for 552c/kg or $3195.
Kingfield Partnership sold 16 Angus heifers, 464kg, for 553c/kg or $2566.
Ashmore Farming Trust sold five cows with calves at foot, 615kg, for $4300.
Southall sold nine cows with calves at foot plus one extra calf, 523kg, for $4000.
