The first store sale at CVLX Ballarat since a major run of feature weaner sales had commission buyers snap up a good bargain for the majority of the sale.
Agents yarded a little more than 3200 cattle in a sale where northern Victorian and southern NSW commission buyers dominated the buying, while a few cattle stayed local to Ballarat and central Victoria.
Gippsland competition in the gallery was also present but limited their bidding.
There was a significant yarding of over 220 steers weighing over 500kg at the sale, with prices for quality pens ranging between $1800-$2200 a head.
Those cattle demanded a price nearly on par with premium weaner cattle on a dollars-per-head value but that dropped away as that run went on.
Lighter weaner cattle then returned to price levels seen at Mortlake's store sale the day prior, with cattle weighing 400-500kg selling an average of 358c/kg or $1874.
Steers weighing 330-400kg averaged 378c/kg or $1386, while lighter steers between 280-330kg averaged 391c/kg or $1214.
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Elders Ballarat stock agent Nick Gray said the sale was subdued, which was expected.
"It opened up probably where we were expecting in that a lot of those heavy cattle made 320 to 350 cents per kilogram, and then usually what we see when we get to our weaner cattle, and we'd see a lift," Mr Gray said.
"We probably didn't necessarily see that lift too much in cents per kilo, and they probably made very similar money to the grown cattle with similar weights.
"We did see weaners up to that high 300c/kg mark and there were probably not many that didn't touch 400c/kg throughout the sale."
The heifer run was also soft, with the first couple of heavier pens achieving $1500-$1900 a head before settling to selling between $1200-$1400.
"Some of the more breeder-type lines of heifers probably sold similar to their brothers, but then as soon as you got away from them, it was hard enough going into spots," Mr Gray said.
Lighter heifers weighing 280-330kg averaged 320c/kg or $984.
Mr Gray also said lighter cattle prices had been matching what was happening at store sales across the state in recent weeks.
"In some sales of late, even here at Ballarat, we've seen a dollars-per-head floor price that people would come in at regardless of what weight they were," he said.
"We probably didn't see that today - it was a cents-a-kilo right all the way through, so the lighter-weight cattle were right back in the dollars-per-head price."
"We certainly knew it wasn't going to be over the top, and some spots were probably a little darker than we thought, and there were probably spots that were a little better than we were expecting."
One of the heavier pens of the day belonged to Borella, who sold nine Angus grown steers, 630kg, for $349c/kg or $2200.
E Powlett sold 18 Angus grown steers, 603kg for 354c/kg or $2150.
Killara Pastoral Company sold nine Angus steers, 481kg, for 390c/kg or $1880.
J & M Rix sold 6 Angus weaner cattle, 404kg, for 393c/kg or $1590.
Keufig PAstoral sold 21 Angus weaner steers, 387kg, for 394c/kg or $1530.
RHK & JL Morrish sold 19 Angus weaner steers, 375kg, for 394c/kg or $1480.
Coniston sold 17 Angus weaner steers, 362kg, for 435c/kg or $1580.
Yaronga Pastoral yarded a significant run of over 130 heifers at the sale, with one pen of 20 Angus heifers, 403kg, sold for 347c/kg or $1400.
F & M Candeloro sold six Angus heifers, 489kg for 335c/kg or $1640.
There was a small but quality run of cows and calves towards the end of the sale, with a pen of 11 Angus cows and calves sold by H Eldridge & Sons going for $3320.
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