Weight what matters in cattle prices

MOST livestock prices have held up pretty well even as we end the second week in October.

The numbers are still relatively low right across saleyards in the eastern states, although in places cattle numbers have improved while prime lamb numbers are in a holding pattern.

Last week at Powranna combined agents yarded 1276 store cattle and although the quality was generally better than last sale, many of the yearlings showed the effects of a pretty tough autumn and winter.

Well-bred cattle in good lines sold well but crossbreds and small cattle really struggled.

However, like the last sale heifers sold almost as well as their brothers.

Heavy yearling steers (over 400kg) made $1280 to $1990 per head (averaging 350c/kg), medium (330kg to 400 kg) $1000 to $1460 (340c/kg), light (200kg to 330kg) $400 to $1010 (330c/kg) and very small $440 to $725 a head.

The few heavy heifers made $1380 to $1440 per head, medium $1000 to $1460 (averaging 340c/kg), light $480 to $1120 (330c/kg) and very small $220 to $420 per head.

As you can see there is a very big price variance in each weight range and that is to do with the big gap between quality and breeding.

Certainly bigger lines created more competition.

Buyers came from all over the state with Northern Midlands, North-West and North-East the most prominent. 

Interesting to note that official saleyard indicators published by Meat and Livestock Australia show all grades of cattle dipped 5c/kg to 15c/kg over the last week and this comes after the release of figures from the National Reporting Service that numbers in the saleyards are running 31 per cent higher than 2023.

Quite a lot of this increase is in Queensland where prices are substantially lower than the southern markets.

As an example, heavy steers in Queensland average 307c/kg while in NSW they average 341c/kg and in Victoria 330c/kg.

In parts of Gippsland this week there were bullocks and steers selling as high as 400c/kg liveweight.

Markets were a bit distorted this week with a long weekend in NSW and South Australia so some big saleyards like Wagga didn’t operate.

Good news on the lamb front with prices remaining around the 800c/kg range, which is great for producers who are experiencing a good season and have lambs ready to sell.

Obviously, the big numbers in Western Victoria and Tasmania don’t start until well into November but at the moment supply seems to be tricky with some areas getting dry.

Interesting times ahead in the lamb game!