THERE’S been a host of weekly and fortnightly cattle sale cancellations early this week, in the wake of last week’s big rainfall event across eastern and northern Australia.

Falls of anywhere from 50mm to 200mm were widespread across parts of Queensland, the eastern and northern parts of the Northern Territory and Northern NSW last week, with some areas pushing past 300-400mm. See today’s separate report.

That’s not only affected road and paddock access this week, but changed the appetite among some vendors to sell cattle heading into winter, with strong prospects of grass and herbage growth ahead.

Tomorrow’s weekly Tuesday Roma store sale – the largest sale fixture in Australia – has been cancelled, after only 400 head were booked by Friday afternoon.

Other sales already cancelled this week include:

• Charters Towers (Wednesday)
• The fortnightly Blackall sale in Central Western Queensland (Thursday)
• Gracemere (CQLX Rockhampton, Wednesday) Only 500 were booked before the sale was cancelled this afternoon, down from 2500 last week

At this stage, Dalby store sale on Wednesday will go ahead, but further updates will be added here if and when they occur.

Other sales that may come under scrutiny include Casino (Wednesday),  and Emerald (Thursday), where 500 are currently booked, but more rain is forecast.

Among early sales held this week, Tamworth yarded only 600 head this morning, down about 1000 head on last week, after receiving up to 150mm in the local area last week.

Forbes sale this morning yarded 1251 head. The usual buyers were present and competing in a dearer market. Cows were the big movers, jumping 40-50c/kg on a quality yarding. Heavy score 2s sold from 280-328c and score 3s from 328-350c/kg.

There was no Dubbo Monday sale report available by the time this item was posted, but the centre’s Thursday fixture last week saw numbers decline by more than 2200, to 3400 head, with rain on the horizon.

Warwick sale tomorrow will go ahead, with 1200 head booked.

• This report will be updated as more information on upcoming sales this week is made available.