HEIFERS were again in heavy supply in Friday’s weekly AuctionsPlus sale catalogue – accounting for nearly 50 percent of the sales.

Despite the volumes on offer, they attracted solid demand from restockers as interest grows for replacements breeders following more fill-in rain across eastern Australia.

Catalogue numbers retracted slightly this week to total 7488 head consigned, down 548 from last week.

Stock were ‘on the move’ in a big way this week, with Angus steers out of Rutherglen, Victoria making the 1300km journey up to Wandoan, Queensland, and more Angus steers travelling an even greater distance of 1800km from Glenthompson, Victoria to Roma, Queensland, where good rain has fallen.

In a breakdown of Friday’s sale by weight:

• Steers less that 250kg made 358c to 440c/kg live, averaging 404c, up 28c on last week. Heifers in the same weight range sold from 306c/kg live to 362c/kg, averaging 341c, a slight rise of 5c from last week.
• Steers 250-300kg sold from 335c/kg to 380c/kg to average 354c, down 13c on last  week; heifers sold from 320c/kg to 389c/kg to average 339c, up 21c.
• Steers 300-350kg ranged from 324c to 361c, averaging 342c, which was a slight decrease of 8c from last week; while heifers were limited in numbers and ranged from 314c to 336c, to average 325c, steady from last week.
• Steers above 350kg were high in numbers, making 300c to 346c to average 324c, steady on last week. Heifers above 350kg were also high in numbers and sold in a wide range from 271c to 346c to average 314c, down 6c from last week.

Starting in the North, sale highlights included a large line of 130 Charolais x Santa backgrounder steers from Winton, Qld, weighing 184kg which sold for 440c or $810 a head (example pictured below). Their similarly aged Red Brahman siblings averaging 191kg made $800 a head.

Heavy 489kg Angus yearling steers out of Goondiwindi, Qld sold for an impressive 323c/kg or $1580.

Simmental cross heifers from St George Qld, weighing 280kg sold to 342c or $960.

Moving down into NSW, Hereford feeder steers from Narrabri, NSW weighing 470kg sold for 305c/kg or $1435 a head, while Angus weaner steers from southwestern Victoria, weighing 215kg made 415c/kg or $895.

Heavy 404kg Angus heifers from Tenterfield, NSW made 320c/kg or $1295 and a small line of Speckle Park and Angus cross feeder heifers sold to 389c/kg or $1110 a head.

In Western Australia, Alcoa Farmlands’ draft of 400 weaner steers which feature on AuctionsPlus each year saw the Angus portion selling to a live exporter with the top-priced steers from Wagerup, WA
weighing 300kg and making 344c or $1037 a head.

 

In Wagyu sales, 408kg F2-F4 Wagyu feeder steers from Wandoan, Qld, sold for a massive 600c/kg or $2452 a head while Wagyu/Angus heifers from the Riverina, weighing 259kg made 556c or $1440 a head. Their half-sib brothers, weighing 272kg made 564c/kg or $1535 a head.

Prices strong for PTIC females

Although there were fewer numbers of PTIC females this week, prices remained strong.

First calf heifers averaged $1327 with Angus heifers from Mudgee, NSW, preg-tested to Coffin Creek Angus bulls making $2110. Young cows ranged from $1000 to $1525 to average $1291 while a line of 3-6 year old Angus breeders PTIC to Angus sires made $2000.

In cow and calf sales, first calvers averaged $2018 with Angus cows from Kingstown, NSW with Nairn Park and Bald Blair Angus calves at foot selling for the top price of $2280.

Angus cows 3-4 years from Exeter NSW had strong buyer demand and claimed the top price for the sale, selling for a noteworthy $2680. These cows had Kenny’s Creek Angus calves at foot and were station mated back to the same bull.

Mixed aged breeders with calves sold from $1110 to $1780 to average $1480.

This week AuctionsPlus interfaced the Woonallee Simmental bull sale. As highlighted in this earlier story, a national record was achieved for Black Simmentals with a 17-month-old bull selling for $27,500. An online AuctionsPlus bidder purchased the second top priced bull for $18,000 which is now heading to Queensland.

 

Click here to view full details on Friday’s AuctionsPlus weekly sales.

 

Coming up: Jeogla sale will test the market for quality EU cattle

 

Market watchers will be logging onto AuctionsPlus this Wednesday with great interest for the annual Jeogla/Wallamumbi Station EU steer interfaced sale, offering 1800 high quality, well-bred steers, all 16-17 months of age, averaging about 450kg with the biggest runs from 430kg to 500kg.

Included will be 1000 Shorthorn steers, 600 Angus x Shorthorns, 120 Beefmaker x Shorthorns and 80 Charolais x Beefmaker steers, all offered in deck-sized lots of 25-30 head. All cattle have been treated with Bovilis MH + IBR vaccine and drenched. In the strength of the current cattle market, pre-sale estimates suggest the yarding might make $2 million or more.

The entire offering is EU accredited and will appeal to both lotfeeders running EU-accredited high-quality grainfed beef programs, as well as EU-aligned grass finishers. Buyers in past sales have come from a wide area, north to the Maranoa in Queensland and south into Victoria.

The sale takes place this Wednesday, 17 February starting at 1pm DST. Morning tea and lunch will be available at Jeogla for those who wish to attend the live fixture.

Incredibly, this will be the fifty-third Jeogla/Wallamumbi online interfaced sale held, manager Richard Braham told Beef Central on Saturday. Previous owner, the late David Wright pioneered the concept back in 1985 with the first computer lined sale, and current owners, Roche Group have maintained the tradition over the past 12 years, with two to three special sales interfaced with AuctionPlus and live sales in the Jeogla Sale Barn each year.

Jeogla/Wallamumbi will hold its second special interfaced sale on Wednesday 16 March, offering another 1600+ 10-12 month old weaner steers & heifers, and 17-18 month heifers.

 

Click the link below to view a sample of the black steers in Wednesday’s Jeogla EU steer sale

Contact  Bob Jamieson Agencies for details – Ben Hiscox 0429 669 313.