VENDORS who held onto cattle over summer in western Victoria were rewarded at the Warrnambool store market today.

Good seasonal conditions and poor cattle prices saw numbers swell and prices rise.

Almost 3000 cattle were yarded, many more than the usual February sale, Warrnambool Stock Agents Association secretary Gerald Madden said.
All categories of store cattle saw a price lift – except grown steers – which remained firm on recent district sales.

About 200 heavier steers were offered with steers weighing 400-450kg making 167-176c/kg, while those weighing 350-400kg commanding similar rates.

 

Weaner steers sold up to 190c/kg, with steers presented in mixed condition.

 

Restockers were keen on young heifers to go back to the paddock, with weighed Euro and Euro-cross heifers commanding 160-177c/kg. One pen of 350kg heifers returned 197c/kg.

Weighed British-bred heifers, 315-400kg, made 168-170c/kg.

Unweighed heifers topped at $600 for a pen of Simmental heifers, while prices for younger heifers held up well.

Small or poor-conditioned six-month-old calves still made upwards of $450.

Commission buyer James Brown bought heavier steers for a backgrounder at Coonamble in NSW.

Wahroonga feedlot also bought heavier steers, while HF Richardson at Colac and Miller Whan & John at Mount Gambier in South Australia were active on lighter pens of steers and heifers.