THE calf market lost some of its spark on day two of the Western District sale series, with prices easing a few cents per kilogram at Hamilton today.
The top dollar per head price was $735 for a pen of 17 Angus steers from vendor Lal Lal that weighed an average of 395kg and sold for 186 cents to the Charlton Feedlot.
One of the higher liveweight sales was 206c/kg for Gowan Brae's big line of 74 Angus calves that had been weaned under the accredited RedStar program and averaged 294kg, equating to $606. Again, this was judged to be slightly down on the previous day when similar weight calves sold to 210c/kg.
"The sale doesn't have quite the same punch," said NSW agent Mark Barton, who was finding it slightly easier to put together loads for clients in Walcha and Barraba.
Overall, most sales stayed above the 180c/kg mark. However only a limited number of the 4000 Angus calves sold for a premium above 190c.
New buyers to emerge at Hamilton included the Charlton Feedlot, T&R Pastoral from South Australia, Landmark Leongatha and Elders Orange in NSW. They joined buyers such as PPH&S from Penola, and Andrew Hosken and Mr Barton that had operated the previous day.
