WHILE the steer market remained firm on last month's sale, females, whether heifers or cows, met a very buoyant market at last Friday's Dunedoo store cattle sale as restockers vie for breeding stock before spring.
Females were popular, according to local agent Jamie Stuart of Milling Stuart Pty Ltd, who conducted the sale in association with PT Lord Dakin and Associates, Dubbo.
"Cows with calves, heifers and especially preg-tested heifers were all dearer on last month's sale," Mr Stuart said.
The cow/calf category gained a price range of $2500 to a top of $3250 while yearling heifers sold to a top of $1840 with lighter-weight weaner heifers selling from $1300 to $1610.
"Overall, it was a very good quality yarding of 1200 head with buyers coming from Wellington, Coonamble, Warren, Orange, Bathurst plus strong local support.
"We didn't have too may steers today with much weight on them, but they still sold extremely well.
"Steers with any weight ranged from $1500 to $1910 for yearlings and weaners made from $1450 to $1700 a head."
PT Lord Dakin's Mark Garland agreed the sale was firm on recent markets.
"We didn't have the heavier run of cattle of previous sales where there were plenty of steers weighing nothing under 300 kilograms, so people may say the sale was cheaper, but there were young cattle today," Mr Garland said.
"Cows with calves were firm to dearer to what we've seen recently with mainly three-in-one units offered. However the highlight of the day were preg-tested heifers and cows, and the heifer weaners."
Mr Garland said people were chasing females.
"That's what it comes down to. The herd rebuild is still on."
The top-priced pen of steers at $1910 a head were six Angus yearlings offered by Mick Sheldon, Wollar, and purchased by a Wellington restocker for feedlotting for 10 to 12 weeks before reselling in the prime pens.
Mr Sheldon also topped the PTIC heifer section with his pen of 20 Angus weaner heifers of Rennylee blood making $1840 each.
Cows with calves topped at $3250 for mixed-age black baldy cows with Angus calves at foot of one-to-three months, sold for Matthew O'Neil of O'Neil Rural Services, Mendooran.
Molly and Maisy Jones, Mendooran, offered a pen of Charolais heifers PTIC to Angus bulls which sold at the top joined heifer price of $2575 a head.
Murray Coe, Ewendale, Dunedoo, gained $1650 a head for Angus/Santa Gertrudis-cross heifers, 12 to 14 months.
Brett Sawyer, Glenfern, Dunedoo, sold Angus-cross steers eight to 10 months, at $1690/hd.
Craig and Amanda Young, Mt Marshall, Coonabarabran, gained $1640/hd for a line of six to eight months-old Angus weaner heifers.
David Thorne, Summer Vale, Gulgong, offered a pen of Angus/Santa Gertrudis-cross steers 12 to 13 months which made $1830 a head.
Mr Thorne said he had also sold some weaner heifers that made $1430 /hd which were out of older cows he bought PTIC six months ago for $1250/hd.
"I thought I might have been paying too much for the cows then, but the gamble paid off," he said.
David and Angela Copeland, Glengarry, Dunedoo, offered Santa Gertrudis/Angus-cross PTIC heifers to make $2300/hd.
"These were milk-tooth heifers about 18 to 20 months," Jamie said.
David and Robyn Croft, Dunedoo, sold middle-aged Angus-cross cows with Hereford calves at foot of one-to-two months of age. These made $2925 a unit.