A large offering of Ultrablack backgrounder heifers came from CPC’s bull breeding program at Isisford, QLD, totalling 880 head. Four lots of Ultrablack heifers, each 160 head, averaging 248kg at 8-16 months, made 284c/kg or $705 on Friday.

ONLINE cattle listings on AuctionsPlus hit a four-month high this week, reaching 21,399 head, up 30pc on last week.

It was the largest catalogue seen since a 13-month high was reached back on 11 December – exceeded only four times in the past 28 months.

The larger offering was met by lower demand, with clearance dropping to 40pc.

Most young cattle categories came under price pressure, with the exception of heavy feeder steers and heifers +400kg.

The offering of steers reached 7394 head and heifers 7453 head – a jump of 35pc for each. Breeding females offered reached 5899 head, a 28pc advance from last week.

Processor buying activity rose this week, taking 7pc of the offering compared with less than 2pc last week.

Steers 200-280kg accounted for 2470 head in this week’s offering, with average prices falling 23c/kg to average 370c/kg. Prices ranged from 260c to 418c/kg.

Steers 280-330kg shows a small 7c improvement, despite a large offering of 2844 head, to average 368c. Prices ranged from 193-417c.

From Mullaley, NSW 68 Angus steers 10-11 months averaging 321kg returned 386c/kg and will travel to a buyer near Tamworth, NSW.

Steers 330-400kg averaged 332c across the 1577 head offered, down 36c on last week, but clearance reached just 12pc.

Heavy steers +400kg averaged 349c/kg, up 12c on the previous week, but only 363 head were offered.

Heifers

Heifer prices were down across all weights this week except for +400kg descriptions, which averaged 322c/kg up 30c on last week, reaching a clearance of 57pc.

Heifers 200-280kg posted a larger offering of 3374 head and averaged 278c, down 25c on last week, for a 51pc clearance. A large offering of Ultrablack backgrounder heifers was offered from CPC’s bull breeding program at Isisford, QLD, totalling 880 head. Four lots of Ultrablack heifers, each 160 head, averaging 248kg at 8-16 months, made 284c/kg or $705.

Another line of 200 Charolais cross backgrounder heifers 255kg at 8-16 months from the same vendor made 280c/kg or $715.

Breeding females

Some big price falls were seen in breeding females offered this week, especially PTIC heifers which fell $283 and NSM cows & calves back $784. Clearance rates were mostly between 9pc and 34pc.

PTIC cows registered a larger offering of 1961 head and averaged $1756/head, up $32 from last week for a 33pc clearance.

From Gladstone, TAS, two even lines of 21 Angus cows aged seven years and averaging 529kg returned $1560/head and will travel to a buyer in Western Junction, TAS.

Prices as at 2pm Friday, 19 April

Source: AuctionsPlus