Cattle offered in prime markets across the state are becoming heavier and heavier, with eye-watering prices pushing producers to hold on rather than bet on a trade.
Processors paid more than $2600 for heavy steers, weighing 600 kilograms to 750kg, at Wagga Wagga this week, with dollars a head almost overtaking cents a kilogram as the talking point in the yards.
Tamworth livestock agent, Patrick Purtle of Purtle Plevey Agencies said the North West had received 50 to 190 millimetres of rain during the weekend, causing numbers at Tamworth to more than halve to a 712 yarding on Monday.
"The rain played into the numbers, as much as it won't be all that exciting for a lot of the croppers, it will do an enormous amount of good for the grazing situation," Mr Purtle said.
He said the Tamworth market was filled with cattle in good condition, with few to be found less than 350kg.
"That's equating to some big returns per head, some of the heavy steers made well in excess of $2000, reaching $2300 to $2400," Mr Purtle said.
"Most heavy steers were making 380c/kg.
"All the processors are back at work, they all had fits and starts here over the past few months, but now they're back at the coal face trying to secure a kill and there's just not enough cattle in the mix."
Mr Purtle said restockers and lot feeders were clashing on cattle weighing about 350kg to 400kg, with restockers forced to buy heavier cattle than normal to return to the paddock.
"It's all driven by grass, that's what it amounts to, people find it hard to buy cattle so they're getting their cattle heavier at home," Mr Purtle said.
"Instead of selling at 450kg, they're thinking I'll hold on and sell at 550kg."
It was a similar story at most saleyards - at Yass Delta Ag livestock agent Tegan Morris said last Thursday's yarding would have averaged more than 400kg.
"Nearly everything now has a lot of weight," Ms Morris said.
"There's not a lot of light cattle for restockers to buy and what is there you're paying over 500c/kg for, closer to 600c/kg for some pens."
Andrew Peadon of Barlow and Peadon Schute Bell said backgrounder competition was very strong at Dubbo last Thursday, the prime cattle sale hosting lot feeders and restockers from Queensland.
"I think there's a shortage of feeder and prime cattle in Queensland, which is why we're seeing a lot more activity down here from the Queenslanders, mostly lot feeders from the Darling Downs," Mr Peadon said.
Numbers also dropped significantly at Dubbo, the market losing 900 head and Meat and Livestock Australia's National Reporting Service said feeder steers were dearer by as much as 12c/kg.
