There was another dramatic fall in the size of the catalogue in Friday’s AuctionsPlus online sales as rain, or the prospect of it, across parts of Queensland and NSW curtailed vendor interest.

Friday’s catalogue fell by almost half to 2324 head, down from 4284 head the week prior, and around 8000 the week before that. It’s the first time in ages that the entire AuctionsPlus catalogue has been managed in a single contiguous sale.

Limited numbers dramatically heightened competition from restockers, lotfeeders and processors, lifting the cattle market up 47c in some categories.

In a breakdown of the market by weight ranges:

• Light steers under 250kg sold from 316c to 405c averaging 355c, jumping 41c, while equivalent weight heifers made 279c to 330c to average 299c, up 18c.
• Steers 250-300kg made 324c to 363c averaging 340c, up 15c.
• Steers 300-350kg steers made 318c to 328c to average 323c, up 24c, while heifers made 289c to 356c to average 322c, with a massive jump up 47c.
• Steers heavier than 350kg made 307c to 328c to average 320c, an impressive jump of 12c and heifers made 276c to 386c to average 325c.

Two mobs of Droughtmaster steers totalling 205 head out of Blackwater made an impressive impact in this week’s sale, attracting attention from all three ‘legs of the stool’: restockers, lotfeeders and processors.

A B-double load of 315kg purebred Droughtmaster steers 10–13 months old, offered by Ken and Kerry McKenzie, Yaralla, due to the deteriorating season, made $1032 or 328c, while their 8-10 month old half-sib brothers, 106 in number, weighing 275kg and PCAS eligible, made $937 or 340c.

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In other noteworthy sales, 27 heavy Glenavon and Clunie blood Angus feeder steers ex Inverell, NSW, averaging 378kg, 13-15 months old, made $1240 or 328c, while their lighter heifer sisters, same vendor, 306kg, made $885. Lighter Angus steers from Bundarra, 231kg, 13-14 months old, made $935 or 405c.

Unjoined females this week made their mark with a line of Angus heifers from Hazeldean at Cooma, 13-14 months old, weighing 389kg making a whopping $1500 or 386c/kg, whilst their lighter sisters weighing 334kg made a comparable $1190 or 356c.

With cows and calves making up 36pc of the sale catalogue they certainly made their presence felt with two lines of Te Mania blood Angus cows and calves totalling 86 head from Barraba, both with Angus calves at foot making $2320. They were part of a line of 450 mixed age breeders sold by a Barraba vendor, which also included first-calf Angus heifers sold for $2200 and older cows and calves sold in a range from $1880 to $2200.

A line of fullblood Wagyu steers sold above the 600c mark again this week, with a line from Cora Lynn outside Melbourne weighing 474kg, aged 23-24 months made $2860 or 603c/kg.

Click here to access a summary of all Friday’s AuctionsPlus sale results.