Commission buyers underpinned the monthly Yea store sale, as prices dipped by up to $300 a head.
Agents sold 1616 head of steers, heifers, cows and calves.
The top-priced steers went for an average of $2100 a head, while heifers sold to $1680/head.
The top-priced cow and calf unit sold for $2550
Elders Yea auctioneer and livestock manager Jamie Quinlan said the market was "a bit cheaper.
"Cattle with weight probably copped it worse than the little cattle did, those cattle with weight could be $300 a head cheaper than the previous sale," Mr Quinlan said.
Top runs of black steers only made in the low to mid 300 cents a kilogram, with some of the colored cattle over 400kg making from the high 200c/kg to low 300c/kg, he said.
"Once you got onto the little cattle, they were still $1100-1400 a steer and $1000-1400 for a heifer," he said.
"The whole cycle is at a bit of a standstill at the moment, because no-one knows what autumn is going to bring - there is a whole lot of talk about a dry autumn.
"These cattle are certainly cheaper than a month before and the feature sales of the last three weeks."
Mr Quinlan said commission buyers Campbell Ross, Melbourne, and Duncan Brown Albury, NSW, "probably swallowed up half the yarding.
"They chipped in and bought a lot of cattle and I would say the blokes they bought them for would be very, very happy".
The commission buyers were supported by Palmer Ag, processors Colonial Meats as well as Ascot Meat Products, which buys for the Wodonga Abattoir.
Feedlot buyers were largely absent, with the exception of Conroy Brothers.
Nathan Everingham Finley, NSW, Ray White Albury, NSW, Gippsland agents Wellington Livestock Sale and SEJ Leongatha, along with Comdain, Rodwells Benalla and Elders Bendigo agents also picked up pens of cattle.
Mr Quinlan said there was little to no local competition, as the area had dried out.
"There is no grass there at all - the country needs a couple of inches of rain," he said.
"It's been good for the past three or four years, this is as probably as dry as we have seen it coming off a wet year".
Delaney Livestock and Property auctioneer Anthony Delaney, Pakenham south, said there were "reasonable" pens of cattle on offer but there wasn't a lot of competition.
"There were various commission buyers underpinning the whole sale - it was a tough day," Mr Delaney said.
"A lot of the heavier steers would have been under 400 cents a kilogram, in comparison weaners exceeded expectations.
"It was tough enough, right through, but we are just starting to see spring calves come through the market and they didn't go too badly.
He said agents were starting to see processors, like Colonial and Ascot, come back to the store pens.
"It might just be a bit of a sign that they are starting to get through the backlog of cattle," he said.
"It's a bit of a funny time, at the moment, there is no real general trend."
Cattle suitable for the feedlots were not being yarded, which meant buyers were staying away.
"People have already sold those older steers - or they are hanging onto them to fatten them - so we are just not attracting the likes of Teys and JBS," he said.
Midas Grazing sold seven Hereford steers, 590kg, for $1900 or 322c/kg.
J Cowan sold 16 Hereford steers, 580kg, for $1980 or 341c/kg.
Kaldera Holdings sold 15 Hereford steers, 492kg, for $1750 or 355c/kg.
Zambezi Moon sold 16 Angus steers, 581kg, for $2100 or 361c/kg.
D Fitzsimmons sold 16 Angus steers, 528kg, for $1940 or 367c/kg.
RC and AM Anderson sold 13 Angus steers, 527kg, for $1880 or 356c/kg.
J Jackson sold 16 Angus steers, 480kg, for $1800 or 375c/kg.
J and P Rouget sold 15 Angus steers, 472kg, for $1710 or 362c/kg.
GW and ME Oliver sold 10 Angus steers, 483kg, for $1760 or 364c/kg.
Campsie Glen sold 20 Angus steers, 432kg, for $1680 or 388c/kg.
H Gilmore and Sons sold 12 Violet Hills-blood Charolais-cross steers, 456kg, for $1600 or 350c/kg.
GE and CE Old sold 15 Waterford-blood steers, 412kg, for $1420 or 344c/kg.
P Boyd sold eight Charolais-cross steers, 359kg, for $1350 or 376c/kg.
M and J Ryan sold four Meadow Lane-blood Australian Shorthorn steers, 398kg, for $1400 or 351c/kg.
Tinnara sold 10 Angus/Hereford-cross steers, 352kg, for $1400 or 397c/kg.
They also sold a pen of 12 steers, 373kg, for $1360 or 364c/kg.
M Taylor sold 23 steers, 366kg, for $1370 or 374c/kg.
G and A Kyval, Alexandra, sold 14 steers, 375kg, for $1350 or 360c/kg.
A and M Stone sold 19 steers, 356kg, for $1550 or 435c/kg.
Campsie Glen sold 17 steers, 354kg, for $1350 or 381c/kg.
F and T O'Connor sold 11 steers, 428kg, for $1430 or 357c/kg.
K and D Foletta sold 22 Riddellvue-blood steers, 269kg, for $1210 or 449c/kg.
B Moss sold 11 Webb-blood Black Baldy/Simmental cross steers, 296kg, for $1270 or 429c/kg.
Grafton Arch sold 14 Elora and Kelly Angus-blood steers, 312kg, for $1310 or 419c/kg.
Weemalah sold 14 Weemalah-blood steers, 367kg, for $1590 or 433c/kg.
They sold 18 steers, 326kg, for $1420 or 435c/kg.
A pen of seven steers, 223kg, sold for $910 or 408c/kg.
Larkfield Pastoral sold 25 Anvil-blood steers, 257kg, for $1200 or 467c/kg.
They also sold a pen of 13 steers, 206kg, for $1100 or 534c/kg.
JPL Agriculture sold 18 Angus steers, 298kg, for $1320 or 442c/kg.
Zambezi Moon sold 17 heifers, 520kg, for $1680 or 323c/kg.
J and P Rouget sold 10 Shrublands-blood Angus heifers, 452kg, for $1430 or 316c/kg.
Barragunda Pastoral sold 17 Angus heifers, 420kg, for $1510 or 359c/kg.
B Cook sold nine heifers, 438kg, for $1450 or 331c/kg.
Mcrae Pastoral sold 12 Rennylea-blood heifers, 348kg, for $1420 or 408c/kg.
S and S Naylor, Taggerty, sold 17 heifers, 296kg, for $1300 or 439c/kg.
Spring Fell sold 20 Angus heifers, 268kg, for $1040 or 388c/kg.
Webster Pastoral sold 15 heifers, 337kg, for $1300 or 385c/kg.
B Moss sold 21 Webb-blood heifers, 257kg, for $1020 or 396c/kg.
Campsie Glen sold 19 Angus heifers, 396kg, for $1400 or 353c/kg.
D and T Humphrey sold seven Angus cows and calves for $2550.
Meirac sold seven cows and calves for $2450.
J and M Joughin sold six by seven four to five year old Murray Grey cows, with four-six month old calves at foot, for $2000.
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Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
