West Gippsland graziers re-entered the race for cattle at Pakenham on Friday, as feedlotters were few and far between.
Agents yarded about 1550 cattle at the Victorian Livestock Exchange, with steers and heifers mixed in quality, besides four feature consignments.
The better end of the steers rallied by as much as $60 a head, however, heifers continued to fall and sold for below 130 cents a kilogram in places.
Among the feature sales was a consignment of 76 Angus steers, 18-20 months, offered by Guest Farming, Yering, which averaged 487kg.
The draft included 21 steers, 513kg, which made $1310 or 255c/kg and was bought by J & F Feedlot, 16 steers, 503kg, for $1310 or 260c/kg to a bullock fattener via Nutrien South Gippsland Livestock, and 18 steers, 477kg, for $1190 or 249c/kg.
Melbourne Polytechnic, Yan Yean, diapered its herd of 193 Angus steers, 12-14 months, including 29 steers, 396kg, for $1020 or 257c/kg, 26 steers, 367kg, for $930 or 253c/kg and 22 steers, 322kg, for $940 or 291c/kg.
The three pens were bought by Everitt Seeley & Bennetts for multiple bullock fatteners on the Mornington Peninsula.
Alchorne Farms, Hawkesdale, sold 116 Angus heifers, 12 months, including 28 heifers, 302kg, for $530 or 175c/kg, 28 heifers, 300kg, for $520 or 175c/kg, 26 heifers for $450 and final pen for $450.
Pepper Hill Trading, Willow Grove, sold 90 Angus heifers, 11-14 months, including 17 heifers, 321kg, for $500 or 155c/kg, 11 heifers, 334kg, for $460 or 137c/kg, 17 heifers, 291kg, for $390 or 134c/kg and 21 heifers, 262kg, for $390 or 148c/kg.
Alex Scott and Staff Pakenham livestock manager David Setches said the quality of cattle did not necessarily reflect the prices paid for cattle.
"The heifers were in better quality than the steers, but most of the heifers made from 150-170c/kg and most of the steers, regardless of weight, were from 205-240c/kg," he said.
"There were very few pens of true weaner calves, and there were a lot of older cattle from the 400-480kg range.
"I thought the lighter cattle that were there were probably $100 dearer than a fortnight ago and that's on the back of some decent rainfall here in West and South Gippsland."
Nutrien Delaney Livestock & Property director Anthony Delaney said local graziers remained the strongest group of buyers, while feedlot competition was limited.
"Today's sale, except for one agency having a few feature lines, was mixed in quality and the prices reflected that," he said.
"Our season this year is actually going very well, despite all the talk of El Nino, because we've had ideal rain for spring."
Mr Delaney said he expected the volumes of cattle through the VLE at Pakenham to ease in coming weeks.
"Because people have feed and they don't need to sell them, we think it's going to get quieter and quieter unless there is a life in the prices," he said.
"Any secondary or singular cattle were really hard to sell, as were the heifers, but I thought steers were $80-$100 dearer across the board."
In other sales, J Kirwan, Koo Wee Rup, sold 11 heifers, 359kg, for $600 or 167c/kg and eight heifers, 405kg, for $650 or 160c/kg.
D & T Hetherington, Mountain View, sold 10 steers, 554kg, for $1180 or 212c/kg and seven steers, 499kg, for $860 or 229c/kg.
S & K Mountain Views, Labertouche, sold 11 steers, 440kg, for $940 or 213c/kg.