SOME 924 head of cattle were sold at the Wangaratta October Store Sale last Friday morning, at an average price of $2.28/kg overall, up 20 cents across the board from last week.

A dry start to spring and a big surge in slaughter cattle supply since early August had brought upon an even further slide in the market last week.

Corcoran Parker cattle agent Reiley Murtagh said the sales went a little bit better than he was expecting, countering recent downward market trends.

“Cows and calves were a standout but that was quality driven,” he said.

“We were already going pretty well, another 120mm (of rain) in a fair radius of our area is really good.

“It’s going to keep kicking things on and it’s going to put a bit more confidence in the local area to buy cattle, and I think it’s stretched all through Victoria and into some southern parts of New South Wales which generally does help out the market.”