DRY, hot weather sapped the confidence of cattle buyers at Wodonga today in a tough day for vendors.
While the top cows and calves sold to $1160 and the best young joined females made $970, prices dipped as low as about 110c/kg for young unjoined heifers and below $300 at the tail of the sale.
It was hard to pick where cattle were going, and some cattle which were knocked down to agencies were actually passed in.
The scene for the sticky sale was set early, when pens of cows and calves were passed in even in the first laneway of cattle offering.
The sale's best price was $1160 paid for a pen of nine Angus cows with calves to six months, with the second calving cows rejoined to a Black Limousin bull. Sold by A and A Miller, they went to a Griffith, NSW, buyer.
Some pens of cows and calves failed to attract even one bid, especially breeders with age or with young calves.
Most Angus cow and calf units sold from $800-$930.
The best pen of Hereford cows and calves was sold by T Bloomer, whose pen of eight older cows with eight calves to three months, making $960. The cows have been rejoined to Angus bulls.
The joined heifer offering included two feature lines of breeders, headlined by Old Milong at Young, NSW. They offered several pens of two-year-old breeders, which were tested in calf to Dunoon Angus bulls for a 10 week calving.
These were almost all knocked down to a Ray White Rural buyer at $790-$880, who nominated accounts in Temora, Albury and Mt Gambier as the buyers.
The other feature line was from the Moore family's Weerincourt at Byaduk, whose cattle had been agisted in southern NSW from the middle of last year.
The Moore family's heifers, which were two years, Weeran blood, tested in calf for a six week calving, went to two buyers - one local from Bethanga who paid $850 for 44 and a Bowral buyer, who spent $970 on 52 young breeders.
The best of the ptic Angus heifers made $700 and above, but sold as cheaply as $540.
Joined cows sold to $740 but made as little as $420, with this paid for a pen of 508kg Angus cows which were tested in calf.
If it was tough for the joined females, it was even tougher for the young heifers, which made as little as $245 for one pen of Herefords, and down to about 101c/kg in some cases.
At the top end, the best Hereford young heifers made $535 (409kg, 130c/kg) and the best Angus $520 (374kg, 139c/kg).
Rostrevor Hop Gardens sold two lines of 290kg heifers with their Herefords making $415 (143c/kg) and their black baldies $385 (133c/kg).
There was a limited offering of steers, mostly weaner and yearlings, and these sold from $375 for some Herefords up to $696 for a pen of Angus (436kg, 160c/kg).
