Feedlotters dominated from the first pen of the May Warrnambool store cattle sale on Friday.
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Cattle with weight and breeding were well represented in the yarding of around 2600 cattle, well above the advertised numbers.
The extra competition and tighter supply of suitable cattle saw steer prices at the top end in particular rise by around 10 cents a kilogram carcase weight compared to the sale a month ago.
Many vendors had held onto stock hoping for rain and a rise in the market.
Warrnambool Stock Agents Association president Kieran Johnstone said the top pens were outstanding.
Mr Johnstone said the feedlotters were active on the steers while the heifers with weight and breeding also attracted attention.
He said the open-auction steers sold well despite weights being at the lighter end.
Cows and calves sold as a dispersal of RA Learmonth were well supported selling to a top of $1940 a unit.
All but three pens of the first 40 made more than 300c/kg, with the top being 335c/kg or $1373 a head for a draft sold by Egan and Moroney that comprised 24 Angus steers, 19 months, weighing 410kg.
A pen of nine Angus steers, weighing 384kg, sold by SJ & KJ Cocks made 332c/kg or $1274.
The top price on a per head basis was the slightly lighter pen of 28 Angus steers weighing 506kg sold by PJ & AL McCarthy, Koroit, making $1624 or 321c/kg.
The heavier brothers of these weighing 552kg sold for $1606 or 291c/kg.
Brookside sold 15 Angus steers, 439kg, for 328c/kg, while River View received 326c/kg for 11, 388kg, and R Learmonth sold 24, 385kg, for 326c/kg or $1255.
River View also forwarded 18 Hereford steers, weighing 527kg, that made 300c/kg or $1581.
Of the weighed heifers, the market top on a per kilogram basis was a pen of 12 Angus heifers that made 293c/kg.
These heifers were sold by Nutting Partnership and weighed 385kg.
DJ Collins received 289c/kg or $1234 for a pen of 22 Angus heifers, 20 months, weighing 427kg.
Close behind was a pen of 22 sold by Toora West that made 288c/kg; this pen weighed 393kg.
Also making 288c/kg was a pen of 16 Angus heifers by Wattle Glen; these weighed 382kg and came out at $1100.
New Haven forwarded two lines of Angus heifers with 11 weighing 395kg making 285c/kg or $1125 and the seconds of 24 weighing 363kg selling for 280c/kg or $1016.
A run of heifers weighing in the 360-420kg range sold for between 277-293c/kg to a Miller Whan & John account.
In the open auction section, the heavier steers sold from $740-$865.
The tops were a pen 23 Angus steers sold by Forward Pastoral, Port Fairy.
The run of lighter steers sold between $630-$740 and the lightest made $450-$630.
The open auction heifers were in solid demand with the heavier run making $610-$650.
Smaller heifers sold mainly from $320-$600.
Crossbred steers sold from $210-$240c/kg and Friesian steers sold at strong rates mainly between 140-230c/kg with processor activity.
The feature of the cows and calves was the sale of the Angus herd of R Learmonth.
The top pen of second calvers, with February/March 2019-drop calves at foot, sold for $1940.
A pen of 13 cows and calves by the same vendor, third and fourth calvers, made $1800, while a pen of five same description made $1740.
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