A staggering 23,000 cattle are set to go under the hammer in northern Victoria in early January as part of the annual weaner sales series at Wangaratta and Wodonga.
More than 10,500 cattle will be sold in the first day alone as prices could be back up to $500 a head on the same lines of cattle that sold in early 2022.
Corcoran Parker director Justin Keane said a combination of factors meant more cattle would be offered across the several sales next month.
"On our first sale at Wodonga on the Wednesday, we'll have 6000 cattle and then another 4200 cattle at Wangaratta in the afternoon," he said.
"I think you'll find there are a few people who will be selling their Angus heifers this year, whereas last year they held onto them for a range of reasons."
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Four sales will take place at the Northern Victorian Livestock Exchange near Barnawartha, while an additional coloured steers and heifers sale will take place at Wangaratta with 2000 cattle, two days after the popular black cattle sale.
The north-east sales will start with the Ray White Rural Albury 1400-head weaner sale at the NVLX on January 3.
"It has been wet everywhere, but there is still a good base of feed around and it's stayed cool," Mr Keane said.
"We've also seen a lot of people who have sold vealers in the past convert over to British-bred and Euro cross weaners now and that's also driving those numbers.
Davilak Pastoral Co, Mansfield, will sell 750 Angus steers, 10 months, at Wangaratta, while Deepdale Partnership, Tallarook, will sell 300 Angus cattle at the same sale.
AM Dobson & Son, Acheron, will sell 120 Angus steers and 100 heifers, eight to nine months, at Wangaratta, while Pulitano Pastoral, Merrijig, will sell 100 Angus steers, 10 months, and 60 heifers.
M & R Oates, Indigo Valley, will sell 80 Angus steers, 10-11 months, and 60 heifers at Wodonga.
Elders territory sales manager for Wangaratta and Albury, NSW, Oliver Mason, said he expected prices to ease year-on-year.
"From what we've seen during the December calf sales, we could be back $400-$500 a head on the same time last year," he said.
"However, the numbers continue to come and after such a long, tough winter, and we expect that there won't be as much weight in the calves this year as a result."
Mr Mason said he expected most of the buying support to come from both northern and southern NSW, as well as southern and south-west Victoria.
"I think there will be a percentage of buyers who operated in the sale last year and got their fingers burnt because of the high prices and where they have fallen to now," he said.
"With such great numbers of cattle, we certainly require buyer support from either the north or south-west Victoria and we expect they will be out in force during these sales.
DKF Heywood & Sons, Glenlock, Everton, will sell 450 Angus steers, nine to 10 months.
K & P and M & B McPherson, Rosewhite and Bowmans Forest, will sell 275 Angus steers, eight to nine months, and 275 Angus heifers, eight and nine months.
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