Buyers were keen to take advantage of slightly lower prices at the January Mortlake store sale held at Western Victoria Livestock Exchange this Thursday.
Agents yarded about 3840 cattle for a sale where lots of local interest drove sales.
Heavy grown steers that weighed above 490kg sold for between 320-370 cents per kilogram, which Southern Grampians Livestock stock agent Glenn Judd said was a bit "disappointing".
"But that's just where the market is, and we haven't got any choice, in that a lot of cattle are coming off at the moment with many feedlots being full too," Mr Judd said.
Lighter weaner steers were firmer, with many pens weighing 300-400kg selling between 400-450c/kg while grown heifers pulled back a bit, selling anywhere between 300-3900c/kg, which Mr Judd said was "consistent but back a fair bit from what they had been making."
READ MORE:
"Weaner heifers were quite solid but stayed in the 400-450c/kg mark too," he said.
"There was a lot of plainer type cattle here today but the good quality cattle sold with high prices."
The best performing grown steers of the day included a pen from S&L Robinson of 28 Angus steers, 545kg, sold for 385c/kg or $2100 a head, while another pen of 29 grown steers from the same vendor weighing 506kg also sold for 385c/kg or $1948.
G McDonald also sold a pen of 11 Angus grown steers, 569kg, for 368c/kg or $2094, while Den Hills Partnership sold a pen of 24 good quality Hereford grown steers, 575kg, for 350c/kg or $2015.
Good performers from the weaner steer section included K & F McDowell, who sold a pen of 22 Angus weaner steers, 376kg for 470c/kg or $1770.
DM Kenna sold 19 Angus-cross weaner steers, 408kg, for 426c/kg or $1742.
Of the heifers, Brandon Pastoral sold 14 Angus grown heifers, 497kg, for 338c/kg or $1854.
K & F McDowell also did very well with their weaner heifer run, topping those cattle types with one pen of 27 Angus weaner heifers, 358kg, sold for 520c/kg or $1860.
The sale also offered a significant run of crossbred F1 heifers, which sold in a 280c/kg to 320c/kg range, while crossbred steers were held up by a good run of Angus/Friesan and Hereford-cross pens, with the dearest of that run being a pen from CP & BJ Buchanan of 4 Hereford-cross steers, 483kg, sold for 320c/kg or $1548.
"The job was very strong on the better cattle, but those lighter cattle, while being viable, were cheaper to buy," Mr Judd said.
He also said that local buyers did dominate the gallery, and "a third of the buyers that we'd normally have" attended the sale, even though solid bidding came from commission buyers James Brown and Campbell Ross, along with a few feedlotters.
"We had a good run of buyers, but they were selective in what they chose," Mr Judd said.
"There were opportunities for people to put cattle out, which was purely and simply because of a lot of numbers coming in here in January."
Eloise Knowles, Woolsthorpe, who sold a pen of 17 Red Angus steers, 320kg, for 424c/kg or $1349, said she was over the moon with her sale, despite prices being down from her last sale.
"If I had made anything over 400c/kg, I would be very happy," she said. "This time last year, I had made around 600c/kg, but I understand that that's the market, but these are still excellent prices for us.
"About five years ago, I was very happy with 230c/kg, so I look at prices from a long term perspective."
Ms Knowles said she was very passionate about Red Angus and wanted to continue a family tradition of selling them.
"They are reasonably quiet, and I love to look after them too."
