PHOTO: Judy & Kevin Kent of Linkes Pastoral, Weerite sold 113 cattle at WVLX Mortlake through Charles Stewart Nash McVilly, with weaner steers from 438-474c/kg ($1362-$1710ph) and weaner heifers from 360-430c/kg ($1173-$1441ph).  

Yarding: 4,815

There were just shy of 5000 head of cattle for the second WVLX store sale in February, where most weights and grades were yarded. It was a good quality yarding, with some great runs of 18-20 month spring drop cattle, as well as some autumn calves and weaner cattle. 

There was a handy run of grown feeder steers to start the sale with not a lot of weight in them, and not a lot of cattle up to 500kg. The best of the 500kg+ steers made around 400-410c/kg with Winda Mara Aboriginal Corporation presenting a pen of 32 Angus grown steers weighing 564kg that made 414c/kg, $2333ph. 

We consistently saw the 16-18mth old black feeder steers making 420-438c/kg, and even up to 440c/kg for the lighter weights. 

The majority of agents had good runs of weaner steers in big lines. A lot of these heavier calves weighing 380-400kg made 440-455c/kg, while the mid-weight steers ranging from 320-360kg made 450-478c/kg. The sub 300kg cattle made very close to 500c/kg and at times better. The big draft of Moyne Falls cattle made solid money, and there were plenty of sales above 500c/kg, including one pen of 14 Angus weaner steers that reached a top of 550c/kg, $972ph. There was good strong competition on these cattle from abroad and local. 

The grown heifer section was more buoyant this sale than the last couple of months. Big numbers of preg-tested empty heifers for spring joining were starting to filter through this sale. Those weighing 380-450kg and up to 500kg, making anywhere from 380-410c/kg, with the really neat line of heifers making up to 450-460c/kg going back to the paddock to be joined for probably an autumn calving the following year. 

The weaner heifers were consistently making up to 400c/kg, with some really nice, out-of-the-box weaner heifers making up to 440-460c/kg in spots, including a pen of 17 Angus weaner heifers weighing 363kg on account of WJ & HE Beavis that topped at 464c/kg, $1685ph. The competition might have dropped a little bit on the lighter end heifers, but otherwise this stayed pretty strong at 350-380c/kg. The coloured heifers were not too dissimilar in pricing. 

Overall, the hot weather didn’t seem to be a deterrent with plenty of buyers from interstate as well as locally providing good competition, and a great crowd of agents, vendors and visitors looked on gratefully under the big roof (which the cattle were pretty happy with too!). The next store cattle sale will be held on Thursday 2nd March at 10am. 

Market Report: WVLX Agents Association president, Jack Hickey. Click HERE for full WVLX market report.