Among larger lines sold today, these 112 Braford and Braford cross feeder steers 370kg at 16-20 months out of Alpha, Central Queensland, made 532c/kg,

CATTLE listings eased 6pc this week to 16,247 head, while clearance plunged to 61pc, down 27 percentage points on the previous week.

Lighter steer and heifer weight categories retracted in average c/kg price this week, while heavier heifers showed some improvement. Price trends for breeding females were almost all in the red, compared with the previous week.

Light steers less than 200kg fell 92c/kg on last week to average 557c, with a clearance of only 35pc of the 600 offered.

The 200–280kg steers offered almost 2000 head, clearing 55pc to average 610c, marginally down on last week, while the offering of 1338 steers 280-330kg dropped 21c to average 593c, clearing 73pc.

A big offering of 2183 steers 330-400kg managed to clear 70pc, with prices edging 1c lower to average 566c.

Heavier +400kg steers lost 2c to average 556c, while clearing 88pc of the 840 head offered.

Steer highlights included 61 Angus steers 10-12 months averaging 311kg from Wagga Wagga, NSW, returned 620c/kg, travelling to a buyer near Holbrook, NSW.

Among larger lines, 112 Braford and Braford cross feeder steers 370kg at 16-20 months out of Alpha, Central Queensland, made 532c/kg, while 242 feeder steers from nearby Clermont made 514c for a mob of 130 Simmental x Brahmans averaging 409kg at 15-20 months and 480c/kg for 112 Brahman herd-mates 400kg.

Best performers in the heifer weight categories were 280-330kg entries, lifting 42c to average 552c, but managing to clear only 48pc of the 1750 offered. Heavier 330-400kg descriptions lifted 5c to average 533c, with a better clearance of 84pc of the 1427 offered.

Lighter heifers less than 200kg cleared 80pc of the 634 offered, down 79c week-on-week to average 485c.

From Lake Bathurst, NSW, 70 Angus heifers 10-12 months averaging 395kg returned 557c/kg, travelling to a buyer near Bathurst, NSW.

Breeding females

Breeding female offerings of 2850 head cleared 52pc, with some hefty price movements among them.

Station mated cows were down $789 on the previous week to9 average $1746, clearing 49pc of the 406 offered. Station-mated heifers cleared 51pc of the 323 offered, losing $235 in average value to average $2228, while PTIC heifers shed $407 to average $1868, but managing to clear only 27pc of the 618 offered.

Thirty seven Charolais x Santa/Shorthorn PTIC cows 3-4 years averaging 534kg from Flinton, QLD, returned $2540 and will travel to a buyer near Roma, QLD.

Nationally, Angus-specific cattle listings totalled 8154 head, up 6pc, with a 69pc clearance.

NSW offered 8154 head this week, while Queensland listings reached 7939 head at 61pc clearance. Victoria recorded 1442 head offered, down 25pc, clearing at 55.

Source: AuctionsPlus