IT WAS a sellers' market during the Central Tablelands Livestock Exchange, Carcoar, store cattle sale last Friday as prices soared much higher than many agents and commission buyers could ever recall.
The regular monthly store sale is normally held on the second Friday each month, but was postponed and held on June 25 due to the heavy snowfalls a fortnight earlier.
The hike in the prime cattle market during the delay played into the hands of the vendors, as buyers were forced to increase their budgets by what several agents estimated was at least $100 a head more than the monthly May sale.
While buyer confidence was at a lofty high, the quality and condition of the yarding was typical of a mid-winter yarding in the Central Tablelands.
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A pen of 14 pregnancy-tested-in-calf Hereford cows with four- to six-month-old calves topped the market at $3960 a unit and were sold by AJ and CD Hagney, Bathurst, through Bathurst agents Clements and McCarthy.
Females were clearly in demand and the top of the PTIC females hit $3100/head for a pen of six Angus sold by RL and TL Wills, Glenarvon, Mandurama, via local agents Bowyer and Livermore.
Angus steers from Wrens Nest Partnership, Tuena, attracted plenty of interest and their first pen on the market hit a top of $2070/head. The pen of 17 July/August drop, 426kg steers were also sold via Bowyer and Livermore.
M Plunkett and N Macbeth sold 525kg Angus steers through Blayney agents Ray White Emms Mooney for $2060, while another top pen made $2010/head and were 400kg Angus steers sold by James Sherringham, Oatlands, Neville, through Nutrien Ag, Bathurst.
The price ranges for the weaner steers reflect the strength of the prime market with buyers paying big money when worked back to cents a kilogram for the lighter end of the yarding.
Weaner steers up to 280kg mostly sold from $1480 to $1780, while those from 280kg to 330kg ranged from $1720 to $1880.
The heavier weaner steers tipping the scales at more than 330kg sold from $1750 to $2020.
Weaner heifers less than 280kg sold from about $1000 to $1785; 280kg to 330kg sold from $1220 to $1745, and more than 300kg topped at $1800.
Limited pens of yearling steers sold from $1450 to $2070.
The bulk of the PTIC cows and heifers ranged from about $2000 to a top of $3100.
The bidding for light cows with calves started at $2070, although the top end of the pens hit $3960 a unit.
Central Tablelands Livestock Agents Association conducted the sale.
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