SOME of the finest cattle in the region tested the cattle market on Tuesday afternoon for Wangaratta’s Premier Angus Feature Weaner Sale.
Despite a late downpour of rain during the outdoor section of the sale, spirits were far from dampened, with just over $4.5m traded at the Wangaratta Livestock Exchange.
Of the some 4900 head of cattle yarded, bids were met for steers at a tight line from $3.05/kg to $3.50/kg live weight on average, with heifers attracting around 80c/kg less than the steers, topping at an average of $2.60/kg for the 330-400kg range.
Corcoran Parker Wangaratta cattle agent Reiley Murtagh said the sale presented exceptional lines of cattle which have been bred with extreme care over the past 12 months, with breeders eyes firmly set on this feature sale.
“These are the tops of the drops, the best cattle you’ll nearly see all year,” he said.
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“It’s good for the buyers because their paying for the price of what they are, but going forward they’ve got an A grade steer.”
Best performers of the sale were some of the feature sellers from the Mansfield region, including vendor Rodda Manning, who brought along 750 head of steers as the feature seller, making no less than $3.35/kg on most of their pens.
Anticipated competition from northern buyers was expected to drive prices beyond December peaks, which had picked up from a low of $3.49/kg carcass weight on the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator.
Mr Murtagh said prices for the heavier line of steers were most consistent across the board.
“The breeding heifers were a bit of a standout as well, the top end of your heifers, anywhere from 320kg up that are going to be anything of joining quality shortly, they were probably more sought after than your background heifer,” he said.
“As long as quality was good, the heifers were selling very well.”
