These 133 Angus weaned steers 6-12 months averaging 228kg off Lorraine Station near Winton in central western Queensland made a 41 percent premium worth $500 a head over their virtually identical heifer sisters in the same sale on Friday. The steers attracted 36 bids, and the 132 heifers, just six.

TWO large lines of virtually identical Angus weaners sold online on Friday provided a strong illustration of the Eastern Australian restocker and backgrounder market’s current appetite for steers versus heifers.

There’s been some evidence of steer/heifer price gaps narrowing at stages during September-October, but some recent results are suggesting the opposite.

Among larger lines offered on AuctionsPlus on Friday were 133 Angus weaned steers 6-12 months averaging 228kg off Lorraine Station near Winton, in central western Queensland. The well-bred steers, out of Kenny’s Creek and Scott’s Angus bulls, made 530c/kg or $1210 a head.

In the same sale was another line of 132 of their heifer sisters 6-12 months averaging an almost identical 220kg, that made just 322.6c/kg or $710 a head. That’s a +41 percent premium for the steer portion, worth 207c/kg liveweight, or $500 a head. It’s a good example of the big gap that still exists between some young steer and heifer prices at present.

The difference between the two mobs? The steer offering attracted no less than 36 active online bids on Friday, while the heifers attracted just six.

AuctionsPlus operations manager Paul Holm said the young steer to heifer premium appeared to be ‘just widening a little bit’ again over the past couple of weeks.

“We think it’s all about confidence,” he said.

“The particular vendor of those cattle sells a lot of backgrounder type steers online, and they clearly have some reputational cache among buyers. But there just isn’t the volume of buyers prepared to buy heifers at the moment, to push them along. The bidding activity tells the story.”

Heifers a ‘bellwether’

Mr Holm said over the past six or eight months, heifers had become a ‘bellwether’ for producer confidence across eastern Australia.

“While the macro-level outlook for the industry may be reasonably positive, producers in many areas are just battling a little bit, on a localised level for weather outlook.

“If you can see a few months ahead (season wise) with some confidence, young steers are the attractive proposition to grow and finish – whereas for heifers, they need a greater level of assurance of what lies ahead. The steer might have 50 options to sell in a few months as a backgrounder or feeder, whereas the heifer is less certain, especially if it stays dry.

Mr Holm said early November could often be a ‘tough time of year’, seasonal outlook wise. There had been some patchy storms around in some areas, but many others were still looking for genuine sign of a break in the season.

“Even for those who have received an early storm, natural pessimism often says: I’ll grow a bit of feed, but that might burn-off when it gets hot. There’s a bit to come yet before we’ve got an assured summer, that would help really lift outlook for heifers,” he said.

Meat & Livestock Australia analyst Emily Tan has produced this graph for an upcoming steer versus heifer price commentary to appear later this week.

It shows the percentage difference and actual price difference (c/kg) for steers and heifers within the range 200-400kg sold via NLRS saleyards, plotted since 2019.

The graph shows that during October this year, the restocker steer showed an 18pc premium over heifers, worth on average 56c/kg liveweight.

That compares with this time a year ago, when the restocker steer held a 20pc premium, worth 38c/kg over equivalent heifers.

“These figures indicated that there are a large number of breeding females on-farm or in case on feed leading to this increase in the premium decreasing that demand for heifers,” Ms Tan said.

“Typically, when the premium decreases, this indicates there is a growing demand for breeding females.”

Another factor in the current price difference was that earlier this year, lotfeeders were placing more heifers on feed due to limited steer supply,  but as feeder steer availability has grown heading towards summer, fewer heifers were being placed on feed, reducing relative demand, and hence price.

As recently as last week Stonex swaps manager Ripley Atkinson reported that restocker heifers were ‘back in vogue’ all of a sudden, with heifers nationally up 13c/kg liveweight on the previous week.

Whether that trend continues will depend on November rain, or the lack of it.