Among larger steer lines offered this week, these 354 Angus backgrounder steers 12-15 months at 280kg from Winton, central western Qld made 565c/kg or $1580.

CATTLE offerings surged almost 40 percent to 16,114 head on Elders’ and Nutrien’s AuctionsPlus online platform on Friday – a catalogue in the top 25pc of all recorded weeks. Clearance eased to 77pc.

Lighter steers and heifers produced some recovery in c/kg price after earlier slides, while heavier lines were mostly unchanged to softer in price.

Breeding stock price trends in $/head terms were mixed, but were mostly based on small offering sizes.

In the steer market, steers 280–330kg lifted 46c/kg on the previous week to average 567c/kg, with the offering of 1126 clearing 70pc.

Lighter steers 200-280kg also strengthened, by 44c, averaging 596c. They cleared 89pc of the offering of 746 head.

Heavy feeder steers +400kg lost another 13c/kg, on top of 26c/kg losses the previous week, to average 472c/kg. That was despite the small offering of only 118 head, that cleared only 79pc.

Clearance for 330-400kg steers also struggled, managing only 52pc of an offering of 771 head, which averaged 488c, down 8c on the previous week.

Highlights included 69 Angus steers 9-10 months averaging 230kg from Mumbannar, SA, that returned $1540/head or 670c/kg, and will travel to a buyer near Suttontown, SA, while a a line of 110 Angus steers 12-13 months averaging 306kg from Meningie, SA, 598c/kg, and will travel to a buyer in Apsley, VIC.

Among larger steer lines offered this week, 354 Angus backgrounder steers 12-15 months at 280kg from Winton, central western Qld made 565c/kg or $1580.

The heifer market was highlighted by strong demand in the lighter lines. Among categories where small offering size was not a factor, an offering of 1049 heifers 200-280kg cleared 78pc, with prices lifting 35c to average 480c. Heifers 280-330kg produced an offering of 1258, clearing 64pc, with prices 48c the better to average 493c. Heavier heifers 330-400kg lost7c on value to average 465c, clearing 70pc of a modest offering of 512 head.

Forty six Angus heifers 9-10 months averaging 175kg from Ararat, VIC, returned 582c/kg, and will travel to a buyer near Langhorne Creek, SA.

Breeding females

Price trends were mixed among breeding females.

Non-station mated cows & calves, lifted $600 to average $2857, NSM Heifers & Calves lost $278 to average $2932, while station-mated heifers jumped $756 to average $2108.

PTIC cows lost $400 a head on average to make $2056, while station-mated cows lost $616 to average $2004. Apart from SM cows and SM heifers and calves, all other breeding female categories struggled to achieve satisfactory clearance rates, ranging from 29pc for SM cows & calves to 59pc for PTIC heifers.

Source: AuctionsPlus