Part of a line of 85 Santa & Angus/Santa feeder steers 350kg at 9-11 months out of Moonie in southern Queensland that sold for 338c/kg or $1185 on Friday.

AuctionsPlus escaped most of the bloodbath that occurred across some physical markets this past week, where prices for young cattle fell 30-40c/kg on the previous week.

While clearance rates in Friday’s three Eastern States cattle sales were the lowest seen on the online marketing platform in 12 months or more, the actual correction in price was not as pronounced as in many physical marketplaces. AuctionsPlus vendors passing-in stock would have taken considerable comfort in knowing their cattle had not left the paddock.

Given recent trends in saleyards across Eastern Australia, there was little surprise that numbers fell to 7711 head in the three Eastern States AuctionsPlus cattle sales conducted Friday, down about 3500 on the previous week’s very high entry.

In a breakdown of weight categories in Friday’s sales:

• Steers under 250kg sold from 286c to 438c to average 333c, down 6c; while heifers in the same weight category made 241c to 297c, averaging 268c, down 22c.
• Steers 250kg-300kg sold for 315-345c, averaging 326c, up 7c on last week, while heifers made 247-281c to average 268c, down 8c.
• Steers 300kg-350kg made 257c to 312c to average 292c, down 14c, while heifers sold from 253-282c to average 269c, down 11c.
• Steers over 350kg experienced better clearance rates even with the numbers of feeders currently available, selling from 265-338c to average 291c.

A line of 160 light Angus weaned steers averaging 194kg at Hannaford in Central Queensland showed that money is still there for the right article, selling for $855 or 438c/kg liveweight.

Other highlights included 85 Santa & Angus/Santa feeder steers 350kg at 9-11 months out of Moonie in southern Queensland selling for 338c/kg or $1185; 298kg Angus and Black Baldy steers at Uralla, NSW making 345c or $1030; 263kg Santa and Angus/Santa heifers selling for 281c or $740 and crossbred heifers at Mungindi weighing 305kg selling for 277c or $845.

Breeders had a tough day in terms of finding buyers, though again sale prices did not collapse as some might have expected.

PTIC first-calvers made $1200 to $1320, with the top price for rising two year old Hereford and Angus/Hereford heifers at Armidale. In north Queensland, one exporter explored a new option for marketing PTIC heifers that were out-of-spec for a live export order, achieving a good result to sell Brahman and Brahman cross in-calf heifers for $620 to $940.

Vendor expectations were still set at a couple of weeks ago for much of the cow and calf offering with high pass-in rates. Young cows made $1540 to a top price of $1870 for three-year-old Angus cows with Angus calves in southern NSW.

A run of 5-7 year old Hereford cows out of Guyra with Angus calves at foot made from $1590 to $1620, and mixed age lines of cows with calves sold from $1170 to $1295.

Click here to view Friday’s full sales results.