Producers are continuing to place their bets on a wet summer outlook and let their confidence overtake their bidding limits at the Tamworth store sale on Friday.
Around 3000 cattle were yarded along with a large quality yarding of females that hadn't been seen in some weeks attracting a $200/hd price rise.
Competition was much stronger and buyers from as far as Queensland and Carcoar made their presence known while restockers from Gunnedah and Walcha also filled orders.
Females continued to be in high demand as local restockers, some who were hoping for a downturn in price after winter, paid to the top of the market in a bid to rebuild their numbers during prime joining season.
Angus cross Angus/Simmental heifers from Niangala peaked at $1650/hd with quality pens of future breeder or feed on females easily making between $1200/hd and $1400/hd.
Jon, Phillippa and Jess Ballard, Turrabambeen, Manilla, secured 18 heifers at the sale, including the top pen, as they look to restock their 1500 acre property.
They are currently running half of their normal 150 breeder herd and were willing to pay for quality.
"We bought some in March and thought the market might get a bit cheaper over winter," Mr Ballard said.
"We had to put our foot in the water otherwise we were never going to get back in the market."
A line of trade females initially sourced through AuctionsPlus by Spring Park Station, Wallabadah, four months ago also excited the crowd with the Santas reaching $1560 and Angus not too far behind at $1590.
Owner Martin Gostelow was watching on through the StockLive platform and said females were in very short supply both locally and nationally so they were a sensible trading option.
"With it still being quite hot in January the decision to go ahead and plant the place out to cereal crops really paid dividends because both lambs, which we traded out of the lamb job, they have had a nibble of the crop for a couple of months and these girls also who were putting weight on, some with above average daily gains of plus 2kg per day," he said.
Steers were also slightly dearer with the top pen of Angus steers from Bregot Grazing, Bendemeer, reaching $1630 while the top runs were selling from $1300/hd to $1400/hd.
Two-year-old Angus cows with July/August Eaglehawk calves at foot from Bellfields Grazing, Gowrie, reached $3240 compared with $2800 last week while their PTIC females reached $2280 from $2110 in the previous market.
Agent Chris Paterson topped three of the four categories on the day and said people selling fat cattle were buying their store stock in the same market.
One vendor doing that was Arthur Hupp of Willala, Boggabri, who made a big profit particularly out of his 19 yearling steers when they were knocked down for $1380.
The steers were part of a mob of 100 he purchased at Christmas time for $230/hd on average from Gunnedah.
"It worries me the way the weather pattern is," he said.
"If we have to keep them for an extra six months for another $200 then I can sell them now and buy fully grown heifers to join."
He purchased a pen of Angus heifers for $1590/head.
In opening the selling run Nutrien agent Joel Fleming said store cattle were getting harder and harder to find.