THE cattle were in very good condition and showing signs of a positive spring season at last Friday’s Combined Agents Store Sale at the Yea Saleyards. Around 1800 cattle were yarded and prices stayed firm or even rose slightly from previous sales. The cows and calves at the sale made from $3200 to $3650, with an average of around $3400. “The market was pretty good for those three-month-old calves at foot,” Andrew Hill from Elders Yea said. The top pen of steers weighed in at 600kg and sold for $3200, reaching a price of 533c/kg. The 500kg cattle made $2560, while 450kg cattle made $2410, 400kg cattle made $2300, and 350kg cattle made $2100 to $2300. Smaller cattle for restocking around the 240kg to 290kg range made $1790 to $1960, reaching almost $7 per kg. “That’s just enormous for them, just phenomenal,” Andrew said. In the heifer section, the top pen of well-bred Angus cattle weighed in at 611kg and they sold for $2900, earning 475c/kg. The 430kg heifers made around $1930 to $1980, the 400kg made $2010, 350kg made $1770 up to $1860 (531c/kg), and he 260kg heifers made $1550 to $1650. “Once again, these little heifers, people were having trouble buying the steers so they were all trying to jump on the heifers,” Andrew said. The main buyers for the sale were feedlots, local buyers and restockers. “A lot of the local restockers probably missed out a little bit with the prices,” Andrew explained. “People are still shaking their heads and finding it a bit hard to justify stepping into the market at the moment. “But it’s fully firm, might be even a shade dearer than the last sale maybe.” The next sale at the Yea Saleyards will be the Nutrien Yea Autumn Drop Weaner Sale on Friday 20 November.
