Whiteface cattle prices continued to soar in August store markets around the nation, with cows to $2700, heavy steers making to $2196 and weaner heifers topping at 444c/kg.
Demand was red hot in Victoria’s Gippsland on the back of widespread rain and a shortage of numbers with lightweight Hereford weaners making to 488c/kg at Bairnsdale.
Chris and Janine Cooper, Wulgulmerang, sold 378kg purebred steers for 441c/kg or $1670 while Leo Dignan sold weaner steers, 241-277kg, for 458-488c/kg.
In the heavier pens, C & J Cooper sold 414kg steers for 403c/kg or $1670.
A feature line of Nuniong, Basford and Newcomen blood weaners was offered by Geoff and Patricia Brown, Kent Park, Mt Taylor, at Bairnsdale.
The top pen of 9-11 month old steers weighed 296kg and sold for $1310 or 442c/kg, while the seconds, 269kg, returned 446c/kg or $1220.
Topping the grown Hereford steers at Sale was vendor Glen Moon with a pen of 13 weighing an average of 381kg, aged 14 months and Mawarra blood, making $1500 or 393c/kg.
On a cents per kilogram basis, the top pen of Herefords was sold by St Katherine’s, Darriman, weighing an average of 322kg, Mawarra blood, and returning 431c/kg or $1390.
At Warrnambool, Hereford heifers offered on behalf of South Boorook, pregnancy tested to calve in spring to South Boorook bulls, sold to a top of $1550.
Luke Buchanan, Irrewarra, traded Hereford steers, 222kg, at the Colac sale for 473c/kg or $1050.
Moving north to Wodonga, Teys Australia paid $1900 or 343c/kg for Hereford steers, 554kg, for their Charlton feedlot from A & C Hall, Corryong. Barry Trethowan, Gerogery, sold heavy steers for $1585 and S Shaw, Mansfield, sold Hereford cows with Charolais cross calves for $2300.
In the Wodonga prime sales, the Collins family, Milawa, sold 627kg purebred steers for 350c/kg or the market top of $2196.
At NSW sales, Joe and Michelle Roddy topped the Tumut fixture at $2700 for second calf Hereford cows with young Charolais-cross calves.
Anne and Les Washbrook, Merrygoen, received $2000 for their Narranmore blood Hereford cows with calves at the Dunedoo sale.
At the opening of the new Yass saleyards, Andrew and Leanne Snow, Cardy and Co, Goulburn, sold a pen of milk tooth steers for $2095.
Pregnancy tested Hereford cows with calves topped the Dubbo store market mid-month at $2640 while steer weaners, 200-280kg, topped at 450c/kg and weaner heifers, under 200kg, at 444c/kg.
In Queensland, Hereford-Santa Gertrudis cross bullocks topped the Toogoolawah store sale at $1920. Charles Booth, Wandoan, sold Santa-Hereford cross steer weaners, 250kg, for an average of 387c/kg and top of 426c/kg, and the heifer portion, 289kg, for an average of 354c/kg, at Roma.
At South Australian markets, Wallaroo Park sold 16-17 month old steers, 345kg, to MC Kerr & Co, Hamilton, at $1400 or 406c/kg at Mt Gambier. Bendulla sold European Union accredited steers, 368kg, for $1510 or 410c/kg.
Western Australian markets saw M & S Kirkham, Coolup, sell grain assisted purebred steers, 506kg, for 316c/kg or $1599 at Muchea.
On AuctionsPlus, PTIC heifers, 18-24 months, from Nyngan, NSW, fetched $1330, station mated cows, four to seven years, with calves, from Tara, Qld, made $1800, and station mated cows with calves from Port Fairy realised $2120.
Weaned steers, 6-9 months, 176kg, from Grafton, made 406c/kg or $715, while older weaners, 11-12 months, 248kg, from Dunkeld, Vic, made 431c/kg or $1070.
Feeder steers, 14 to 16 months, 317kg, returned 400c/kg or $1270 and backgrounder steers, 214kg, from Cassilis, NSW, fetched 446c/kg or $955.
In the Black Baldy pens, C & M Wheeler, Buchan South, sold heifers, 336kg, for 370c/kg or $1245 at Bairnsdale and steers, 293kg, returned 416c/kg or $1220 at Sale for K Oliver.
Penned at the front of the Bairnsdale sale were heavy Black Baldy steers from the Estate of A. Norman and selling for the top price of $1890 while steers, 543kg, from Sandy Camp fetched 346c/kg or $1880.
Weaned steers, 10-11 months, 293kg, from Holbrook, returned 431c/kg or $1265, on AuctionsPlus and steers, 12-14 months, from the Higgins family, Glenmaggie, made 423-476c/kg at Heyfield, Vic.
Station mated Black Baldy cows, six years, with calves, from Wangaratta, returned $2400.
“Wyamba’’, Gerogery, sold yearling Black Baldy steers, Wirruna blood, for $1100-$1390 at Wodonga, and Shore Pastoral sold heifers, 10 to 12 months, 240kg, for 425c/kg or $1020.
Hereford cross results include Hereford-Simmental station mated cows, two to three years, with calves from Glencoe, NSW, making $2370, and Limousin-Hereford feeder heifers, 328kg, selling for $1225.
The Eastern Young Cattle Indicator finished the month on 706.25c/kg – up from 687c/kg last month.
Meat and Livestock Australia reports short fed (100-120 days on feed) EU steers, weighing 380-500kg, averaging 383c/kg – up from 381c/kg last month.
In the domestic paddock sales, steers (280-350kg) averaged 377c/kg and heifers (same weight) averaged 359c/kg.
NSW over-the-hooks rates for MSA yearling steers stood at 621c/kg for 280-300kg carcass weight.
