AS floodwaters continue to make their way through Queensland, producers south of the border are starting to make agistment plans having largely missed out on the storms of the past two months.

In the past two weeks, several producers in the New England area have posted advertisements on the agistment.net.au website looking for a home for breeding stock. Agents have also been yarding some big numbers at local saleyards – including Tamworth, Gunnedah and Inverell.

The New England and Northwest New South Wales is an important area for high quality branded beef programs, with large Angus and Wagyu breeder herds and extensive backgrounding country.

With cattle from those areas coming to market early in recent months, many are suggesting that it is holding the feeder market back from increasing another 10-20c/kg – including Elders agronomist Richard Koch and StoneX analyst Ripley Atkinson.

Robert Cavanagh

Speaking to Beef Central after delivering some cattle to Winton, Tamworth-based livestock transporter Robert Cavanagh said local feedlots had largely been absorbing the turn off in recent in months.

“A lot of cattle have been going off early to the feedlot, that should have been kept and grown out as heavy steers – that started about a month or six weeks ago,” Mr Cavanagh said.

“Cattle are still making good money, anyone that wants to go to market is still doing pretty well.”

He said the movement of cattle has widened in the past two weeks, with the first frosts not too far away and a lot of cattle heading to Central and Western Qld.

“There have been quite a few cattle go into Central Qld, but it depends how your cattle fare with the ticks,” Mr Cavanagh said.

“Queensland is looking pretty good from Blackall, Barcaldine and up to Winton – it is just a big taxi fare.

“I think you will see a lot of cattle go into Camerons Corner and areas like that.”

Mr Cavanagh said until this point, most of work has been taking cattle north rather than south.

Ripley Atkinson

“I don’t think the south has had a good enough break yet over a wide area to take any big numbers,” he said.

Will cattle go on agistment to the south?

If the season permits, StoneX Australian livestock manager Ripley Atkinson said there would likely be agistment available in the south.

“I think you will find that some of the producers down in Central and Western Victoria will take cattle on agistment if their season improve just to get some cash flow going again after some dry years,” Mr Atkinson said.

“Some of my clients up near Winton have had a very good season and I think you could expect them to take some good younger cattle on agistment for 2026.”

Mr Atkinson said the next question will be about how much winter forage crop can be grown.

Producers better managing droughts

Elders Tamworth livestock manager Scott Simshauser said the dry conditions had been well-assisted by a good cattle market with many in the area choosing to sell into a good market and buy back in if the season breaks.

“For this region, there is definitely a shortage of cattle with weight in them and that is where the premium is going,” Mr Simshauser said.

Scott Simshauser

“It is a credit to the feedlot and processing sector, who have been able to turnaround after Covid and keep the beef chain alive and well – which is a big help to producers.”

Mr Simshauser said the majority of cattle have been heading north, with some demand starting to come from the south.

“We have had some go to Broken Hill and some South Australian interest. We are just hoping that continues, they are telling us that they have a good start and need a bit more,” he said.

Mr Simshauser said producers in the area had learnt a lot from the 2019 drought and were becoming better at managing dry times.

“They don’t panic as much, they are very organised in their plans and they don’t deviate from them,” he said.

“Some of them put themselves in a position where they can still buy cattle and feed them until it does rain. There does not seem to be any emotion.”