A STRONG Mansfield contingent of vendors stole the show at the quality yardings of feature weaner sales in Wangaratta last week.
On Tuesday, some 4900 head were drafted at the Premier Angus Feature Weaner Sale while some 1900 head came together for the All Breeds Feature Weaner Sale on Thursday at the Wangaratta Livestock Exchange.
Mansfield farmer Tony Reardon owned the champion pen of 50 Hereford steers at an average weight of 350kg on Thursday afternoon, which sold for $1120/head.
Totaling 100 head of Hereford steers at the sale with Glendan Park bloodlines, Mr Reardon said he has experienced an excellent season for his draft of calves, while also gauging 160mm of rainfall at his property since Christmas.
“Normally I have them a little bit heavier but I’ve changed over the pollers, the horns were different bloodlines so it takes a while for it to all gel together,” he said.
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“You’ve got to be realistic, I’m hoping for something around $1100/head.
“We really need that $1500-$1800/head to really pay for everything, but we’ve just got to take it, everyone else is suffering as well so you’ve got to be realistic.”
Mr Reardon said he has begun selling at Wangaratta over the past two seasons after originally selling at Barnarwartha.
Best performers of the sale on Tuesday were predominantly 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.
Corcoran Parker Wangaratta cattle agent Reiley Murtagh said the Angus 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.
“It’s good for the buyers because they're paying for the price of what they are, but going forward they’ve got an A grade steer.”
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.”
