Just as the demand for young cattle has waned with the drier season, so too has the enthusiasm for breeding cows and heifers from restockers.
Davidson Cameron and Company agent Scott Newberry, Tamworth, NSW, said buyers of cows and heifers were becoming more picky as the season slipped.
"We've had a big bulk of feed up until recently and people were prepared to roll the dice and buy in-calf cows or heifers to take advantage of that, but now that the season has changed the buyer speculation has come back a bit," he said.
Mr Newberry said the demand for pregnancy-tested-in-calf females was limited, but there was still a premium for specific lines.
"For example, we had a run of European Union-accredited black heifers at the Tamworth sale and two bidders that both wanted them to put back into breeding programs in the EU system," he said.
He said those females sold very well and reflected the spark that was still there in the restocker market for the right specifications.
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Schubert Boers Livestock and Property Agents agent Craig Schubert, Albury, NSW, said the season was playing on people's minds, but generally in his region they were looking at a more "typical pattern".
"The cow and heifer market is certainly softening, but that's in line with the trend of the overall market," he said.
"It's most noticeable on the older PTIC cows or those with a calf which mostly have come back to a kill value."
Mr Schubert said demand for PTIC heifers was a little stronger as they were a more attractive proposition longer term.
"A heifer is easier to run than a cow, but there is still the price pressure there depending on which way the season goes," he said.
He said it was not unusual for the season to be drying out at this time of year, but producers would be looking for an autumn break to come through soon.
In Victoria, Elders Kerr & Co agent Bruce Redpath, Mortlake said "money was tight" and conditions were causing "quite a lot of uncertainty in the future".
"The quality of feeders out there in most places is not good with it being very dry and because it was so wet before, the grounds throughout NSW, especially in the western district the grasses haven't been anywhere near the same quality they normally have, and cattle have struggled," he said.
He also said the female market could wane further.
"I thought a months ago we'd reached the bottom of the job but if you look at the most recent Bairnsdale store sale and the results of what happened in the Mountain Calf sales and anything that wasn't up to scratch would be back in prices."
"It fascinates me a bit in that there must have been a lot of hay and silage made, and I don't know whether we've quite reached the bottom," he said.
Nutrien Myrtleford agent Wade Ivone said while people were not wanting to buy heifers to join as a trade option this year.
"You could breed your way out of them if it did turn, and now that the market has turned, I think people are more hesitant to be to be doing that," he said.
Some heifer lines were still performing well, with Mr Ivone citing the top price at Myrtleford's most recent store sale being a pen of heifers with a price difference of $300 a head between it and the next pen.
"At the moment you can buy very well bred heifers for the right money that you could probably trade out of them too, but I think that there's less of those people wanting to take that punt," he said.
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