Large pens of cattle were on offer at the 2022 Elders Kerr & Co Annual Spring Feature Sale, held at WVLX Mortlake.
Agents yarded just under 2000 cattle at the sale, which was slightly down on previous years sales, but plenty to offer with well presented and good quality cattle throughout, despite the wet spring in recent days.
Most steers over 400 kilograms hovered around 570 cents a kilogram, while steers between 400-500kg picked up the pace with price regularly going past hitting 590-600c/kg
Steers under 400kg regulalry went past the 600c/kg mark, with prices getting exponentially dearer as the cattle got lighter through the sale.
A highlight of that lighter cattle was one pen of 60 Angus steers sold by Jamecca Plains, 220c/kg, going for 914c/kg or $2010 a head.
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The lightest of the heifers that were offered which were under 300kg also regularly saw pens passing 700c/kg.
Jamecca Plains was the star in that department again, with one pen of 50 Angus heifers, 239kg, sold for 722c/kg or $1725.
Weeran Angus also sold a pen of 59 Angus heifers, 290kg, for 708c/kg or $2053 which was in amongst a large amount of cattle offered from their operation at the sale, selling about 100 Angus steers and 125 heifers in the saleyards.
Bruce Redpath from Elders Kerr & Co said heavy steers "were a bit off the pace".
"[Those heavier] steers were behind by around ten cents, but the young cattle, heifers and weaners were very strong," he said.
"They were all dearer than what we have generally seen lately."
Mr Redpath said there was a usual set buyers with many locals turning up, while a few buyers were absent due to wet conditions.
"There was one buyer in particular here from the Riverina but some from up that way couldn't get cattle in up there because of the wet," he said.
"We can find paddocks for those cattle here, but... it's been raining since four o'clock last afternoon and we're locally we've been in trouble with weather with the sad cancellation of the Mortlake Cup."
Mr Redpath however said many buyers in some areas were able to negotiate transportation.
"Cattle are definitely going to South Gippsland and South Australia, but they are talking about it being wet in those areas," Mr Redpath said.
"But now's the time when they buy their cattle and their feed will grow, but we aren't seeing NSW agency competition in the lots.
"I should mention there wasn't much competition on AuctionsPlus today either and that either means that there are people watching their cattle that have sold well, or it was just too wet for those who did bid."
Vendor Jock and Cheryl McMahon, Bookaar took out the regular David Powling Shield, awarded for the best presented pen of cattle at the sale.
"It is quite exciting to receive this award," Jock McMahon said.
Jock and Cheryl run about 350 cows on his 500-acre property just north of Camperdown.
"We are totally into beef and are using Barwidgee bulls in our operation, in where we run a pretty tight ship, but we love it," Jock said.
He also said conditions have been "pretty good through winter and quite mild" for his operation with cows calving on dry ground.
"It's obviously been quite wet now, but for us right now it is a good time for it to be wet, and hopefully it will extend the season for us," he said.
Other notable sales include Olangolah, who had a run of 110 Hereford steers, with a pen of 36 Hereford steers, 461kg, for 566c/kg or $2607.
Green Hills also sold 100 Murray Greys at the sale, with one pen of 31 Murray Grey steers, 514kg, for 578c/kg or $2970.
Waterloo Creek sold 20 Angus steers, 514kg, for 546c/kg or $2891.
Bligh Pastoral sold 21 Angus heifers, 278kg, for 632c/kg or $1756.
Basin Banks sold 11 Hereford cows with calves at foot, 490kg, for $3660.
