A yarding of about 2400 cattle attracted a few more feedlotters than normal at CVLX Ballarat's May store sale on Friday.
Commission buyer interest also spurred on some competitiveness for quality cattle, but prices fell back 20 to 40 cents a kilogram on average in line with market trends.
Good quality grown and weaner steers had healthy competition from the galleries, and prices throughout that portion remained relatively steady, with plenty of heavy cattle above 400kg selling between 370-400c/kg.
The majority of steers which weighed 330-500kg averaged 372c/kg, while lighter steers attracted prices hovering about 400c/kg on most lots.
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But a big drop in price came along with the heifer job as it contained a lot more lighter cattle.
Heifers between 280-330kg averaged 309c/kg, while those under 280kg averaged 267c/kg.
The heavier heifer portion passed the 300c/kg mark for most pens, as heifers between 330-400kg averaged 317c/kg and heifers between 400-500kg averaged 335c/kg.
Nutrien Ballarat livestock manager Xavier Shanahan said it was difficult to sell off the heifer job later in the sale.
"Steer prices were probably what we've been seeing in the last six to eight weeks and relatively been OK," he said.
"Heifers are getting tougher though each time we go to sell, so that was the biggest difference with heifers going quite a bit off."
Mr Shanahan said the mixed quality of the yarding was also as expected for this time of year, but some feature lines helped avoid a huge drop.
"We are getting a lot of the spring drop calves sold now, and if a lot of them aren't having a good of a time, then the calves will be lighter than what they'd be in the summer," he said.
"There are some good new runs of feature cattle yarded... but still some cattle being sold which have suffered from the wet spring last year, which we are still seeing ramifications from and that still hasn't gone away yet."
He also said that recent local wet weather had kept spirits up, but the dry forecast ahead did make buyers cautious.
"Northern buyers aren't here because they want to see the feed ahead of them rather than anticipating it coming," he said.
A significant presence of feedlots including Bunalloo, TFI and Teese were at the sale.
Commission buyer Campbell Ross had numerous orders throughout both the heifers and steer run.
One of the heaviest pens of the day belonged to Eastern Hill who sold nine Angus steers, 583kg for 351c/kg or $2050 a head.
Junction Park sold 15 Angus steers, 502kg, for 379c/kg or $1910.
Belsize Park sold 22 Angus steers, 473kg, for 391c/kg or $1850.
Nebpak Enterprises sold 11 Angus steers, 445kg for 400c/kg or $1780.
EL & WV Nicholls sold 19 Angus steers, 328, for 406c/kg or $1380.
Andrew Carey, Black Hill, sold eight Angus steers, 418kg, for 380c/kg or $1560 and another pen of four Angus steers, 343kg, for 379c/kg or $1300.
Mr Carey said many of his cattle yarded were the "tail end of his steers ready to head to the feedlot" and with some that didn't make weight were also being sold.
"We've done the best we can with our cattle as they've been on grown feed, and we were looking to do a bit of a clean-up before we start afresh for our next year of producing," he said.
"It's no surprise now for producers that prices will be trending downwards or fluctuate a bit, but I think farmers should do the best they can to control what we can do with our cattle."
Tarqua Pastoral had a good run of lighter steers yarded and sold a pen of 13 Angus steers, 330kg for 427c/kg or $1410.
The heaviest heifers of the day belonged to Spavale, who sold 16 Angus heifers, 550kg, for 332c/kg or $1850
NE & RN Cooper sold 10 Angus heifers, 351kg, for 347c/kg or $1220.
Most cows with calves at foot struggled to go past $1800 for a lot, with the exception of a pen from 8 cows with calves at foot from vendor E & J Davies, which was sold for $3000.
