A mixed yarding of cattle at WVLX Mortlake's first store sale in May meant prices softened a little across the board.
Agents yarded a little more than 1900 cattle in a sale which was dominated by many local buyers, and minimal competition.
Southern Grampians Livestock south-west livestock agent Scott Judd said the sale which predominantly had crossbred and female cattle, said quality was average throughout.
"The quality here was definitely seen through the prices, and competition wasn't really as great compared to our last store sale here two weeks ago," he said.
"Local demand was more in the galleries today than what you'd normally see, and compared to the last store sale, where cattle was heading to SA and NSW for that sale."
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The smaller than normal yarding at Mortlake meant feedlot presence was also limited.
"There was a local feedlot out Colac way from John Deere, but others would go back out to the paddocks," Mr Judd said.
"Much heavier cattle here today would go back to the big feedlots, but Midfield was also here to take up heifers and any crossbreds steers that were of significant weight."
The cheaper prices gave opportunity for locals to get into the market while significant rain continued to come down in through the Mortlake region in the past week.
Mr Judd said there was a bit of grass growth locally which meant "there was a bit more of a push to get a few more head on the ground ahead of winter".
"It's been a bit dry in some northern areas that hasn't allowed people to buy back in, whereas in our area, many have bought in dearer cattle and are trying to make the market more susceptible to them to get profit margins back up."
Despite the slight downturn in quality cattle, there were a few good lines of feature cattle in the grown steer section of the sale, including a significant run of 82 cattle from Martang, Lake Fyans, who had one pen of 32 Angus-cross grown steers, 466kg, sold for 466 cents a kilogram or $1940 a head.
The top price of the day also belonged in the grown steer section from vendor Studbrook, who sold five Angus grown steers, 552kg, for 372c/kg or $2053.
South Boorook also did well with a run of quality weaner steers, with a pen of 24 Angus/Hereford-cross, 309kg, sold for 462c/kg or $1427 and also got the top price in terms of cents per kilogram, with 15 Angus/Hereford-cross, 156kg, sold for 482c/kg or $1235.
Duxford Ag sold 13 Angus/Hereford-cross weaner steers, 269kg, for 426c/kg or $1146.
Camperdown vendor Simon Hunt trading as SJ & JP Hunt sold 14 Angus steers, 345kg, for 410c/kg or $1476.
Heifers up to 400kg mainly sold between 310-365c/kg, while a heavier run of 40 heifers from FB & WL O'Conner sold well, with one pen of 12 Angus heifers, 445kg, sold for 350c/kg or $1557.
The majority of a run of F1 steers didn't get past 310c/kg with the exception of a pen from PB Kain, who sold eight Angus F1 steers, 448kg, for 362c/kg or $1624.
Much of the lighter run of steers and heifers in the latter half of the sale struggled to go past 250c/kg.
Large pens of cows with calves at foot hovered between $1600-$1800, however Travalley sold a pen of 13 Black Simmental cows and calves for $2400.
