Victorian cattle producers are eagerly watching weather forecasts as they await the onset of an autumn break.
Rainfall in the west of the state has been sporadic, and while drier months have been forecast until June, some farmers in the south-west are on the verge of having received sufficient rainfall for the season.
"At the moment below Mortlake, feed-wise we are actually going very well," Southern Grampians agent Glenn Judd said.
"We very recently had a drop of rain [south of Mortlake] and another half an inch and we probably will have our autumn break here."
Mr Judd said landholders were mostly happy with how feed was going and while prices had continued to soften, it wasn't to an extent which was causing producers huge concern.
"We haven't got an abundance of rain or feed... but north of Mortlake there definitely needs to be more rain to top everything off," he said.
He said supply of cattle was looking to be at a fairly normal rate throughout the week.
He said wider factors could also be playing into recent price drops at markets.
"We used to see many cattle head over to Russia and nearby countries about 12 months ago, but the amount of animals sent to those areas has reduced dramatically," he said.
"That would have an impact on the scene, and the high prices that people paid for their cattle earlier on are certainly feeling it, but we also didn't expect prices to drop $1000 a head at times," he said.
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J M Ellis & Co agent Jack Hickey said producers should get prepared for whenever the break may arrive.
"We are right at the beginning of autumn now and who knows when the break will be," he said.
"Cattle aren't doing anything off paddock feed right now, so it's supplementary feed."
Mr Hickey said that feed would put some marginal weight on cattle but despite the uncertainty, farmers should be preparing their next generation of younger cattle for the yards as best they could.
"Leftover cattle have got to make room for the next crop to come on, and that is what is happening at the moment," he said.
And the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator is continuing to slip, falling to 681 cents a kilogram carcase weight as of Tuesday night this week.
This was 7c/kg down on last week and 431c/kg down on the same time last year.
Victoria's component of the EYCI was at 622c/kg, which was 5c/kg up from the previous week but 72c/kg lower for the month and 404c/kg down on the same time last year.
It was the lowest EYCI contributor across all three states at the time.
Queensland's component recorded 711c/kg while in NSW it was 663c/kg.
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