The Morven spelling yards has had its busiest year yet as large numbers head from north to south, and west to east. Click on image fort a larger view. Photo: supplied Watco

LIVESTOCK transport drivers in Western Queensland have had a busy fortnight as inland country starts to dry out after earlier unseasonal rain and cattle start to head south and east.

In a Facebook post earlier this week, the managers of the Morven spelling yards said the facility had moved 130 decks of cattle in and out in 36 hours. That included a 72 deck load out by road and 24 decks of Bulloo Downs cattle going on the rail.

One of the big movements filling up in the yards was cattle from the channel country which were held back by flooding earlier this year. Trains of cattle heading direct to the meat works were part of it, some organic cattle and feeder cattle going to feedlots on trucks.

There were also cattle heading from north to south, mostly Angus cattle that were sent up to Western Queensland from dry paddocks in New South Wales in recent years.

Morven spelling yards manager Mick Smith told The Week in Beef podcast that the busy weeks had come off a stop/start year.

“Last year was probably the crazy year for numbers,” he said.

“This year is back a bit, but we will have a couple of busy weeks and then a few quieter days, but they are still consistently coming and moving in all different directions.”

In August Beef Central reported large numbers of cattle had started to move out of the Channel Country, many of which have stopped at the Morven spelling yards before being move on trains.

“The last two to three years, we’ve done about 30 trains per year with cattle from the Channel Country,” Mr Smith said.

Angus cattle starting to head south

Over the last two years the Morven yards have also been used to spell the large numbers of Angus cattle that were sold out of dry paddocks in Victoria and New South Wales. Many of those cattle from two years ago have gone as feeders in the middle of this year and some of this year’s cattle are starting to move as Queensland dries out.

“There were more cattle than I’ve ever had come from south going north earlier this year, a lot of cattle going up there on agistment, a lot of black cattle,” Mr Smith explained.

“We have had a couple mobs come through already and there’s more booked in to come here on their way home south again. They’ve obviously done well up there and made good use of the feed.

“The feed is probably just starting to lose a bit of the body as it does this time of year up there, so they’re sort of shipping them back home while they can.”

Mr Smith said the season in his area had deteriorated and was in need of rain.

“In the last week Morven has had warm and windy days which does a lot of damage to feed in a hurry,” he said.

“There is a big, wide area that is very dry, so we could be very busy the next few months with cattle moving later this year because of it.”

Mobs of Angus cattle hit the market

Some bigger runs of Angus cattle from Western Queensland have been hitting the market in recent weeks, through both the saleyards .

Ray White Longreach principal Bill Seeney said some of the cattle that were purchased earlier this year had not done as well as last year’s purchases.

“There is a run of lighter weaners, in the last couple of weeks at Blackall we have seen the lightest cattle that we have seen in a while,” he said.

“When there was that splash of rain in NSW and a bit of crop came up, even though it was late crop, people took advantage of taking those cattle home and putting a bit of polish on them. I wouldn’t say they have gone backwards, they certainly haven’t had the performance some people would have liked.”

Mr Seeney said there was still plenty of bulk feed in Western Qld and an ability to hold onto cattle with supplementation.

“Lick supplies are a bit tougher to get if you haven’t been organised. Cattle are still in good strong water, management can control a lot of what is going on at the moment,” he said.