Nutrien's 50th Annual Premier Weaner Sale at Ballarat has finished off on a strong note, with a quality yarding of cattle on offer and selling for about 10c dearer, even though there was some lack of bloom in the yarding.
The sale mainly kept with the trend of most weaner sales in regards to weight with lighter cattle making up the yarding at Ballarat's CVLX saleyards.
The Bruce Balharrie best presented pen award at the sale belonged to Phil Lloyd, Mount Wallace, who sold 18 Angus weaner steers, 411kg for $1850 a head or 450 cents a kilogram.
In total, Mr Lloyd consigned 160 cattle of the day in what was his feature line at the sale.
Nutrien Ballarat stock agent Xavier Shanahan said the sale was very solid with some prices settling around the 450c/kg mark for most quality weaner steers, which was where "most of the calves were tracking".
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"There were cattle going for 500c/kg for isolated cases, but 450c/kg is largely where we are at," he said.
"The feeder weighted steers were quite strong too, and it actually is a bit of a relief that we had our feature sale now and not three weeks ago, just because you wouldn't have had the competition at that time.
"There has a small bit of rain that has set itself again, and good weighted cattle didn't have trouble going past $2000.
"The day was generally at that level, although there was some pens which were 500c/kg or over in isolated cases, but most cattle of the day stayed at that level."
One of those isolated cases was a pen from Ballark, who sold 37 Angus steers, 341kg for 519c/kg or $1770.
One of the better pens of cattle weighing under 400 kilograms being Glenlogie's pen of 20 Angus steers, 399kg, sold for $1860 or 466c/kg.
Mingela Pastoral also had a good run of 12-13 month old weaner steers, with one pen of 23 Angus steers, 407kg, sold for $1840 or 452c/kg.
Cattle in the 330-400kg range averaged 440c/kg or $1600, while cattle between 400-500kg where slightly cheaper, averaging 426c/kg.
Of those heavier steers Roseneath Angus performed well, selling eight Angus weaner steers, 446kg, for $1950 or 437c/kg.
The heaviest pen of the day was from Spring Gully, which achieved the top head price for a pen of 10 Angus steers, 668kg, for 376c/kg or $2510.
Ballan brothers Col and Mick Mullane had the largest consignment of the day, yarding about 580 cattle across the sale, of which 14 Angus steers, 425kg, sold for 445c/kg or $1890.
The later runs kept up with average prices and stayed firm throughout, with KG & SM Kemp selling a pen of 10 Angus steers, 394kg, sold for 434c/kg or $1710.
Carningham Station attracted good prices for a couple of pens of lighter steers under 300kg, with 40 Angus steers, 234kg, sold for 566c/kg or $1325 and another pen of their 50 Angus steers, 227kg, sold for 573c/kg or $1300.
RJ & KM Thompson sold 36 Angus steers, 319kg, sold for 507c/kg or $1620.
Rowellan Lodge sold 50 Angus weaner steers, 350kg for 488c/kg or $1680.
Mr Shanahan said the four weeks of feature weaner sales at Ballarat had been relatively good, with middle to heavier weighted weaners gradually getting slightly dearer through the month.
"Probably the steers today in the mid-300kg bracket were a little dearer ... and heifers doing similar [weights] being about $150 dearer overall," he said.
Mr Shanahan also said the 50th anniversary of the sale was "massive" on a personal level.
"The sale is entering into the fourth generation of relationships we've got from agents and families that we deal with," he said.
"We can't put a price on it for that and we call it our flagship sale because in all honesty, I don't know if we have a better sale."
Jenny Jarmain, Ambleside Trading, Ballan who was selling cattle at the sale for the second time, sold 22 Angus grown steers, 537kg, for 391c/kg or $2100.
She said she had been "fairly excited" for the steers she had on offer at the sale, and had been pleased with what she got for them.
She said there was a lot of history that Nutrien has had with her family throughout the 50 years the premier weaner sale had been running.
"Tony Shanahan from Nutrien has been my agent and he started shearing at my parents farm since I was five," she said.
Ms Jarmain said the season in her region had been "very wet" and obtained an abundance of feed over the last few months.
"A lot of farmers around us couldn't couldn't cut hay or harvest crops because of the wet, but the cows have all paid off," she said.
"Farming is my second job, as I work with disabled children, and coming to sales and farming is very much my down time, so it's good to keep up with what is happening with people in the region and how they are going."
Mr Shanahan said the significance of the sale's 50th anniversary was "massive".
Commission buyers Campbell Ross and Duncan Brown were competitive at times while southwest Victorians and locals also showed interest throughout the sale.
Feedlotters and Gippsland bullock finishers took home a bulk of the heavier cattle.
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