CATTLE numbers rose by 2000 head in an AuctionsPlus offering of 6460 head on Friday, where buyers sent clear signals that they are looking towards the future, with young breeders being highly sought after.

The sale again saw records fall – for the fourth straight week – with Wagyu F1 backgrounder steers experiencing intense competition before twice cracking $6/kg liveweight, on-farm.

These young F1 backgrounder steers set a new AuctionsPlus record of 604c/kg liveweight on Friday. Click image for a larger view

Wagyu breeders are continuing to reap the rewards of competition in the current marketplace with another 300 crossbreds from three vendors offered at auction this Friday.

Steers twice breached $6/kg, with 265kg Wagyu/Angus steers out of Drillham on Queensland’s Darling Downs selling for 600c or $1590 a head to a backgrounder, and 244kg F1-F3 steers, 9-12 months out of Texas on the Qld/NSW border making 604c or $1470/head. The heaviest F1 steers offered at 293kg made 598c or $1750.

The vendors of the 604c/kg steers were Andrew and Kate Gray of Orana at Texas.

“When they saw the results in your story last week (Beef Central’s story last Monday about Wagyu x Angus weaners reaching record prices of 586c/kg) they decided they better take advantage of that situation,” explained selling agent Joe Mildren of Ray White Livestock at Pittsworth, who helped the Grays to list their cattle on AuctionsPlus.

The Grays have been breeding Angus/Wagyu cross cattle for 12 years through artificial insemination, embroy transfer and natural joinings.

Their steers sold to Elders for backgrounding while a second line of steers sold for 598c, also to backgrounders.

Wagyu/Angus heifers in Friday’s sale made 448c-489c, and Wagyu/Hereford weaners at Walcha made 448c-458c.

ABC Landline markets reporter Kerry Lonergan yesterday focussed on the recent strength in AuctionsPlus sales for Wagyu in this report, and with more Wagyu F1 feeder/backgrounder cattle already booked for next week’s sale, it will be well worth watching this market segment.

Young breeders in high demand

In listings among conventional cattle breeds on Friday, young cattle showed some movement on the previous week, with ups and downs across weight categories.

Light steers below 250kg made 301c-363c to average 327c, up 32c, while equivalent heifers sold from 224-323c to average 285c, down 15c.

Steers 250kg-300kg made 252-315kg averaging 295c, down 7c , and heifers sold from 258-307c averaging 283c, down 1c.

Big numbers of light feeder steers saw 300kg-350kg drafts make 236-363c averaging 311c, up 2c,  and heifers 248-307c to average 283c, up 5c.

Heavier steers +350kg made 287-317c averaging 308c, down 8c, and equivalent heifers 285-308c averaging 293c.

Notable steer sales included 300kg Angus out of Victoria selling for $1090, 358kg Angus steers in Tasmania making $1140, and in southern Queensland, crossbred yearling steers weighing 349kg sold for $1045.

In South Australia 300kg Angus heifers sold for $920, at Wandoan (Qld) 300kg crossbred heifers made $855 and in Hay 370kg Angus yearling heifers sold for $1140.

Young breeders were the focus of many buyers on Friday, and there was plenty of quality females on offer. PTIC first-calvers made from $910 to $1320 averaging $1148, with the top price paid for Angus heifers at Armidale.

Young PTIC cows made $905 to $1330, and mixed-age lines of females out of Queensland sold from $915 to a top of $1460 for three to seven year old Angus cross cows. Cows with calves at foot however were the flavour of the day. Heifers with their first calves at foot made $1810 to $1870, and second and third-calvers made $1225 to a top of $1920 for a line of three year old Angus cows at Bathurst as part of a herd dispersal. Mixed age lines from Queensland sold from $825 to $1220 and a line of nine to twelve year old Hereford cows with Hereford calves out of Blackall sold for $1440.

Click here to view a full tabulated report on Friday’s AuctionsPlus sales.

AuctionsPlus will be holding a Livestock Marketing Producer Workshop in Hamilton, VIC on 4 August, kicking off at 4pm. Local producers are welcome to come along and enjoy a free BBQ and beers, and learn more about AuctionsPlus as a cattle marketing channel. Call 02 9262 4222 for more details.