Agents in Central Western Queensland where cows sold for $20 per head last week are calling on producers not to panic, largely because that price remains far from representative of the market as a whole.

Times are tough in cattle markets, particularly in the north where a combination of high debts, worsening drought, an oversupply of cattle, limited marketing options, falling prices and exorbitant freight costs are placing severe pressure on producer profitability, as highlighted at yesterday’s beef crisis summit at Richmond.

However the widely quoted figure of $20 per head for cows, first reported after the weekly Longreach sale last Wednesday, and which has contributed to plunging levels of producer sentiment in the industry, is not representative of the current state of prices – at least not yet.

Reports that cows had sold for just $20 triggered a frenzy of media headlines across the country last week.

While such reports helped to draw national attention to the unprofitable status of current terms of trade for northern cattle operations, which is a very real issue, they have also served to cement a perception that $20 a head is now the going rate for all cows across Queensland, and agents say that is far from the reality.

Longreach selling agent Bill Seeney told Beef Central this morning that the $20 per head price was the absolute bottom of the market price paid for two cattle in a yarding of 3000 head.

He said the cows were not in poor or dying condition, but weren’t fit for market because they didn’t suit any market specification.

Mr Seeney, from Ray White Rural, said prices at Longreach were “probably back by 40c/kg on average” on the same period last year

“It is a hard situation but by no means is that an indication of what the market really is,” Mr Seeney said.

“I heard a comment on the radio that you need to sell 25 cattle at $20 a head to feed a family for two weeks, well none of that is going on.

“The market is bad and the job is tough, there are a lot of dry conditions around, there’s a lot of cattle forced onto the market, a lot of cattle we’re seeing in our market that don’t usually get sold down here due to live export.

“A lot of it is due to live export and then the dry weather on top of it, she has just snowballed.”

Despite those challenges, he said there were still markets for producers looking to sell older cattle, and importantly, the better cattle were still selling relatively well.

“There is still markets, but anyone who has got feed, should hold back and don’t panic,” Mr Seeney said.

The Longreach and Blackall sales originally scheduled for this week have both been cancelled due to insufficient numbers.

Jack Burgess from Grant Daniel Long in Blackall said local producers had shifted a lot of cattle from dry properties in recent months, and believed many had now destocked to a more comfortable level to get through winter.

Many were taking it “one month at a time” and are currently holding back from selling more cattle in the wait to see if rain, or an improvement in the market, occurs.

“There’s still a fair few cattle about but people aren’t going to sell every beast, they will keep a minimum of breeders and go from there,” he said.

“They may have to sell a few more in a month or two, but they are only taking it a month at a time at the moment, they aren’t just rushing out and selling everything.

“The view is ‘If we don’t get any rain this month we’ll sell a few more just to keep spreading a few breeders out’”.

He said that while the market was definitely cheaper, “it was nowhere near $25/hd”.

“Our cows (at Blackall last week) averaged $1/kg which is still making $500/head,” he said. 

People could be easily frightened in any market if the bottom selling price was quoted, rather than the top selling price, he said.

Speaking from the Dalby cattle sale this morning, he told Beef Central that it was important to note that quality cattle were still selling relatively well.

“The decent cattle are still not selling too bad, we sold good bullocks from Blackall at Dalby (this morning) for $1.60/kg and topped the market here."