Phillip “Bluey” Commins and Morgan Davies, Elders Bairnsdale, with the champion pen of steers which sold for $2390.
Vendors were left open mouthed as buyers kicked up a gear at the Ensay Weaner Sale and lifted autumn drop steer prices by $130 on the Benambra Weaner Sale to top at $2780.
Selling agents Elders Bairnsdale yarded 662 steers and 303 heifers for the March 9 fixture at the Ensay yards in challenging conditions after 100mm fell in the days preceding the sale.
The steer average lifted by a thumping $579 on last year’s $1801 to settle at $2380 while the heifers averaged $1904.
Principal buyers included steer finishers Arthur Angliss, Lancefield, Ian Lester, King island, and Marc Greening, Injemira Beef Genetics, along with Elders Albury, Paull and Scollard Nutrien and Nutrien Ivone Agencies, Alex Scott & Staff, Warragul, Nutrien Delaney Livestock, Moe, Elders Kilmore, and restockers from Gundagai and Tallangatta.
Autumn drop Hereford steers sold for $1880-$2780, a rise of $130 on the Benambra Weaner Sale the previous day, while Hereford/Shorthorn autumn drop steers sold for $2210-$2560.
In the heifers, Hereford pens made $1780-$2350 while the Hereford/Shorthorn females were a sought-after item at $2550-$2610.
Pat Cleary, ECM Livestock, judged the champion pen and awarded it to Phillip “Bluey” Commins, Nunniong Herefords, Ensay, for his 19 steers, which also received the Tony Pianto Pen of the Sale award from Elders.
Sired by homebred bulls and out of first calf heifers, the July/August drop steers sold to a Warragul steer finisher for $2390.
Bluey, who offered 150 steers and 67 heifers, came to the aid of the large crowd by rolling out a bale of hay to counteract conditions that was described by Morgan Davies, Elders, as “hard going on man and beast”.
Opening the sale was Craig Lloyd’s pen of European Union accredited Hereford and Shorthorn/Hereford steers sold with a green weight of 414kg for $2560 (618c/kg) to Anthony Delaney, Nutrien Delaney Livestock, Moe.
Topping the sale and creating a new record top steer price for the yards was Barry and Topsy Newcomen, Newcomen Herefords, Ensay, with their pen of 21 EU accredited Herefords, with a green weight of 428kg, and snapped up by repeat client Arthur Angliss, Lancefield, for $2780 (649c/kg).
Mr Angliss also paid $2560 for a pen of 21 EU Hereford and Shorthorn/Hereford steers from Evan and Di Newcomen, Ensay.
He finishes Herefords for the JBS grass fed programs and likes to buy them at 400kg liveweight.
Mr Newcomen put the hot market down to good seasonal conditions and improved genetics.
“We had four years of drought and that knocked a hole in the bank balance but this will restore it. Last year was good and this is even better,” he said.
In the females, a new saleyard record was set at $2610 for a pen of 22 EU accredited Shorthorn/Hereford heifers sold by Evan and Di Newcomen to restocker Greg Pritchard, Tallangatta, Vic.
“We are restocking – our budget was exceeded but that is the cattle job at the moment,” Mr Pritchard said.
“You would never find a better pen of roan heifers anywhere. The F1 females are so easy to look after.”
Morgan Davies, Elders Bairnsdale, described the sale as a “fantastic result for not only the vendors but the buyers who keep coming back to buy these cattle.”
“Anthony Delaney, Nutrien Delaney Livestock, was a major buyer today – he buys specific cattle with temperament to suit grass fed programs.
“There was a new record set for the yards and we are seeing them broken all the time but that’s just where the cattle market is.”
-Kim Woods
Quotes
Steers
B & A Newcomen: 21, EU, Hereford, 428kg, $2780; 26, EU, Hereford, $2360
C & J Lloyd: 21, EU, Hereford and Shorthorn/Hereford, 414kg, $2560
E & D Newcomen: 21, EU, Hereford and Shorth/Hereford, $2560; 45, EU, Hereford and Shorth/Hereford, $2390
A & E Pendergast: 25, Herefords, $2530
R & W Newcomen: 24, EU, Hereford, $2430
G & C Farmer: 18, Hereford, $2400
Nunniong Herefords: 19, Hereford, $2390
W McCole: 20, Hereford, $2220
Heifers
E & D Newcomen: 22, EU, Shorthorn/Hereford, $2610; 24, EU, $2200
A & E Pendergast: 18, Shorthorn/Hereford, $2550
B & A Newcomen: 15, EU, Hereford, $2350; 24, EU, $2270
Nunniong Herefords: 16, Hereford, $2230