Weaned, European Union accredited and Immune Ready - these appear to be the three big 'wants' for buyers at southern weaner sales this year, over and above quality and value.
Agents say professional backgrounders and lotfeeders are "regularly walking past" the few pens of unweaned calves on offer.
More than 90 per cent of the offering has been weaned.
That lack of attention meant that across the board, on average $100 an animal less is being paid for the unweaned pens.
At the same time, on average 10 to 15 cents a kilogram more is being paid for EU pens. The best rates so far have been paid for heavy EU Angus steers.
And the new program that allows sale stock to be differentiated based on vaccination and health status, Immune Ready, gained plenty of momentum, agents reported.
Northern interest
Millions of dollars will be paid out for young cattle by the time the run of Victorian and south-eastern South Australian weaner sales comes to a conclusion at the end of next week.
There have been big numbers of people around the rails, although some were just looking, and while plenty of northern NSW and Queensland buyers are about, they are yet to really flex their muscle.
Agents believe those northern buyers will be more prominent over the next week at sales where they can ship stock home in one trip.
"Everywhere you go people are talking about freight costs," Elders national livestock manager Peter Homann, one of the volume buyers at Casterton, said.
"So far, it seems the bulk of good cattle have stayed down here - bought by professional backgrounders, feedlots and Murray River restockers.
"Lighter cattle are going north but not as many as we thought."
Cost appears to have come into the equation as well, with a number of northern buyers saying the prices were up on what they'd hoped.
In contrast, Victorian traders have been more active than expected.
Hamilton agent Jack Hickey, JME, said the 200mm that had fallen across local cattle-growing Victorian regions since Christmas had given people feed they wanted to make use of.
To wean?
It's talked about every year at weaner sales but auctioneers really pushed the weaned attribute this year and plenty of buyers said they wouldn't bother looking at those not weaned.
The debate goes like this: weaning - that is taking calves off their mother for several weeks and yarding them with feed prior to marketing - takes kilograms of live weight off the end product, sometimes as much as 15kg.
Mr Hickey: "Essentially, buyers know with unweaned cattle they are paying for something they'll lose quickly so they account for that."
Agents seem largely to be in favour of weaning. Some have suggested it should be mandatory. From an animal welfare perspective, it also has a lot of support throughout the beef supply chain.
Regardless of the pros and cons, it's clear that an increased number of cattle on offer were weaned this year.
"The weaning job is a must now," Mr Hickey said.
Dearer but still good buying
Analysts at Mecardo have calculated the 2024 weaner price premium over the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator as the lowest it has been in eight years, an indication that what buyers have paid will make for quite profitable business.
Angus Brown published a basic trading budget for 300kg weaners bought at 310c/kg live weight to sell as feeders in six to eight months. At a sell price of 300c/kg, it shows a profit margin of $450. Even at a sell price of 250c it would be a profit margin of $195.
In a nutshell, there is value for buyers at the moment but vendors have also dodged the worst of the market downturn, Mr Brown said.
Agents say optimism and faith in the cattle business, among both vendors and buyers, is up "incredibly" on what it was before Christmas, mostly driven by weather prospects.
Mr Homman said the so-called "El Nino panic" possibly cost the industry $10 billion.
"But now that everyone has realised El Nino isn't going to turn all Australia into a sandy desert this year, we're back on track," he said.
"2024 will be a good year in cattle."