Buyers at the August store sale held at CVLX Ballarat on Friday stayed spirited over heavier lines of cattle, despite some significant price drops in lighter pens.
Agents yarded about 2500 cattle in a sale which had very good to average quality cattle and dominated by local and commission buyers.
A couple of agent buyers from Gippsland also snapped up good bargains on lighter cattle, while limited feedlotters such as Teys and Midfield were active on good lines of heavier grown cattle on offer.
Steers fell as much as 60 cents a kilogram compared to last month's Ballarat sale, with those weighing between 330-400kg averaging 300c/kg or $1094 a head with a top of 340c/kg.
Steers weighing between 280-330kg averaged 280c/kg or $865, with a top of 333c/kg.
Heavier steers between 400-600kg also hovered around 300c/kg on average, with their top at 327c/kg.
Heifers were mainly on the lighter end, with those weighing between 280-330kg averaging 221c/kg or $680, with a top of 252c/kg.
TB White & Sons Ballarat stock agent Tom Madden said the sale prices were within expectations and in line with similar sales across the state "over the past two or three weeks".
He said local vendors had good reasons to be confident despite the price drops.
"There were plenty of opportunities to buy cattle, and locally, we're going to have a pretty good season, hopefully, and that is setting up pretty well," he said.
Mr Madden said sustained interest in the heavier grown steers from the feedlotters present kept some confidence in the market.
"Anything with any kind of weight at all did really well today, especially for the grown Angus steers which were regularly getting 300c/kg or more," he said.
"A lot of the lighter weighted cattle that have just come out of winter didn't have as much weight in them as they looked, and probably just the background of competition was probably a bit flatter on them."
Ongoing rainfall in central and western Victoria has gone against the trend in other areas of Australia, where recent figures showed regions experiencing dry spells are forcing farmers to offload cattle.
Mr Madden said he was confident that cattle numbers locally around Ballarat would remain "solid".
"The local breeders and traders are generally regular and consistent... and particularly after a few good seasons here in the last few years," he said.
"We're shaping up - fingers crossed - for a pretty good spring too, and with warmer weather, we'll start seeing growth here... as long as it doesn't get too hot here, we should be okay.
"Our biggest concern is probably going to be hay supplies and what that will cost going forward, especially if you're not producing it yourself, but apart from that, we feel pretty good."
Buyers were advised that new starting time of 9am will come into effect as of the next Ballarat store sale on September 22.
Gervasonis sold 11 Angus grown steers, 550kg, for 316c/kg or $1740, the heaviest pen of grown steers sold on the day.
Bunding Park sold 14 Angus grown steers, 543kg, for 322c/kg or $1750.
Hamish Hurley sold 19 Angus grown steers, 499kg for 324c/kg or $1620 with the vendor also doing well in the heifer portion, selling a pen of nine Angus steers, 486kg, for 267c/kg or $1300.
Haydon & Campbell sold 35 Angus steers, 396kg, for 340c/kg or $1350.
Glenore Holdings sold 10 Angus steers, 396kg, for 3154c/kg or $1250.
IG & HM Mathews sold 10 Angus steers, 390kg, for 325c/kg or $1270.
Andretto yarded over 200 cattle, with one of their best pens containing 15 Angus steers, 339kg, sold for 339c/kg or $1350.
DK & KL Trigg sold 14 Angus heifers, 441kg for 306c/kg or $1350.
Wandana Ag sold 10 PTIC cows for $1300.
The Estate of FB White sold five cows with six calves at foot for $1500.
