YOUNG cattle provided many of the highlights in a smaller offering of 5254 head on AuctionsPlus last week. Numbers listed eased about 1000 head on the week prior, especially among breeders and cows & calves, while the young cattle offering was more or less unchanged.

Young steers out of Queensland generated some outstanding prices, including two lines of EU-eligible Booroomooka blood Angus backgrounder steers, 4 to 8 months old weighing 148kg, from Talwood which sold for 547c/kg or $810. Their heavier brothers weighing 190kg sold for 515c/kg or $980.

A line of EU-accredited Droughtmaster cross and Brahman cross backgrounder steers, 8-10 months weighing 191kg, from Springsure sold for 441c/kg or $845. Heavier steers from the same vendor weighing 257kg, sold for 399c/kg or $1026.

A line of Brahman steers, 10-14 months weighing 306kg, from Boulia in the state’s far west sold for 345c/kg or $1055.

From NSW a line of KO and Hazeldean blood Angus steers, 10-11 months weighing 200kg, from Braidwood sold for 485c/kg or $970, while a line of Bongongo blood Angus steers, 10-11 months weighing 281kg, from Gunning, NSW sold for 427c/kg or $1200.

A line of Limousin/ Murray Grey steers, 12-16 months weighing 305kg, from Gloucester sold for 397c/kg or $1210, while from Mortlake, VIC, a line of Coolana-blood Angus steers, 10-11 months weighing 398kg, sold for 410c/kg or $1630.

Among heifer lines, standouts included a mob of Booroomooka-blood Angus heifers, 4-8 months old weighing 159kg, from Talwood, QLD which sold for 489c or $780 and a line of Renneylea and Pine Creek blood heifers, 10-11 months weighing 258kg from Gundagai, NSW, which sold for 432c or $1115.

A line of Morton Bay blood Shorthorn heifers, 10-12 months weighing 298kg, from Mendooran, NSW sold for 366c or $1090, while a line of Droughtmaster cross heifers, 13-18 months weighing 348kg, from Surat, QLD sold for 385c or $1340.

A line of Claredale and Dalkeith blood Hereford heifers, 12-14 months weighing 345kg, from Mendooran, NSW sold for 377c/kg or $1300, and Booroomooka blood Angus heifers, 20-21 months weighing 377kg, from Bingara, NSW sold for 467c/kg or $1760.

In a breakdown of young cattle sold by weight:

• Steers weighing less than 250kg sold from 350c to 547c to average 429c/kg, down 6c; while heifers in the same weightrange sold from 311c to 489c to average 385c, down 22c
• Steers 250-300kg sold from 361c to 427c averaging 390c, up 1c; while heifers sold from 326c to 432c to average 364c, down 3c
• Steers 300-350kg made 345c to 428c to average 396c, up 24c; while heifers sold from 372c to 385c to average 377c, up 31c

Prices generally steady for breeding cattle

With the offering of PTIC females dropping in number, prices remained steady. A line of Hill Angus blood cows, 4-7 years, PTIC to Angus bulls, from Glen Innes, NSW sold for $1650, while a line of Wagyu cows, 10-12 years, PTIC to Wagyu bulls, from Ashford, NSW sold for $1300.

Cows and calves this week sold for some cracking prices, which included a line of Millah Murrah and Gilmandyke blood Angus cows and calves from Molong, NSW. These rising 3-year-olds had with Angus calves at foot weighing 180kg, and were PTIC back to Angus bulls, selling for $2510.

Another line of Angus cows and calves 6-9 years from Kangaroo Valley, NSW, joined back to Angus bulls and with Angus calves at foot weighing 175kg, sold for $2120.

 

AuctionsPlus launches online assessor rating module

During the week AuctionsPlus launched its online assessor rating module, which, just like similar systems used on Uber, AirBnb and eBay, is designed to bring relationships, accountability and trust to the forefront of their businesses in their online marketplace.

AuctionsPlus claims the assessor rating process is a world-first in the livestock sector.

“Our rating platform has been designed to change the way people behave in our marketplace, making users more accountable, enhancing online trust and reputation and providing a means of bringing relationships and communication to the table,” CEO Anna Speer said.

“It has been proven on the likes of eBay that if your seller relationship goes up, so too does your selling capacity. AuctionsPlus will be working to help improve assessor performance as well as looking at how producer brands can be promoted from the paddock to the plate,” she said.

“We now want to take the next step in building greater respect, integrity, accountability and performance.”

“Online trust makes us accountable in the physical world-via reciprocal ratings, people realise that they will be measured and this will impact their ability to transact in the future,” Ms Speer said.

“Without feedback we can’t improve – by enhancing two-way communication in livestock transactions we feel we can build trust and respect between users as well as lift the bar in our already high integrity platform.”

The first stage of the online rating module begins with accredited assessors, allowing buyers to rate and provide feedback on the accuracy and performance of their purchases. Following assessors will be reciprocal ratings for buyers and then vendors, creating an ecosystem of engaged and accountable users.

“We feel that we have a responsibility to work with our users to increase the learnings, opportunities and performance of Australia’s online saleyard and build a more efficient and beneficial livestock platform for producers, buyers and livestock,” Ms Speer said.

 

AuctionsPlus’s Anna Speer speaks at the Rural Press  Club of Queensland’s Brisbane show breakfast event on Thursday morning.

 

Coming up:

The August 10 Premium Wagyu Sale on AuctionsPlus is the next opportunity for Wagyu breeders to maximise the value of their Wagyu and Wagyu influenced commercial cattle in a ‘Wagyu only’ marketing environment.

F1 Wagyu feeder steers have recently been bringing 660c/kg live. The sale will also accept suitably identified registered females, bulls and genetics.

For conditions of sale go to http://www.wagyu.org.au/content/uploads/2016/05/AWA-premium-wagyu-sale_JUNE-2016.pdf