Tamworth store cattle sale highlighted by steers reaching $2460

Steers made up the majority of the market at the Tamworth Regional Livestock Exchange (TRLX) with most yearling steers selling for about $2000/hd.

A draft of Angus steers offered by Nick Simpson, Tamworth topped the section at $2460, up from $2450 at the last sale, while weaner steers reached a high of $2390, up from $2360, for Angus steers sold by the Etheridge family, Manilla.

A highlight of the category was a draft of 500 British and Euro-cross mixed-sex weaners offered by the Butterworth family, Taree, which topped at $1980 for the steers and $1840 for the heifers to average $1616 overall.

Tamworth stock agent Scott Newbury, Davidson Cameron and Company, said a lot of the steers sold from $1850 to $2050.

"Overall, there was 160 pens of steers and the quality was a bit more mixed than we've seen in recent weeks, but still quite strong overall," Mr Newbury said.

"It was the first time in quite a while we have seen some lighter-weight cattle, which had been consigned from away due to the wet weather.

"There was plenty of viable cattle in that range which sold from $1550 to $1800."

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The heifer category proved to be a slightly different story as the top price of $2340 for a draft of Angus-cross heifers was down from the last sale top of $2480.

However, Manilla stock agent Patrick Purtle, Purtle Plevey Agencies, said "the section progressively got a bit better as the quality improved."

"There was a lot of lightweight heifers in the mix and they sold extremely well from $1500 to $1700 and I think that was due to people looking for that margin factor as well as a simple dollars-per-head program," Mr Purtle said.

"The little cattle sold from about $1400-$1600 but mind you it is hard to avail yourself of those cattle wherever you go.

"The top end of the section was up to about $2200 while some very good Angus sold to $2350, which was indicative of their quality."

Mr Purtle said the cow with calf market was strong once again, reaching a high of $4200 a unit, which was down from the last sale's high of $4575.

"In the cows with calves, it was not a particularly flash yarding but there was quite a few of them," he said.

"Quite a lot of them were aged cows with bigger calves that you could buy from $3200-$3700, which looked reasonably good buying at this point given what the weaners are making.

"The best of the black heifers with calves made just a tick over $4000, which was a bit easier than it has been in recent weeks as well, but again that is indicative of quality."

A small offering of pregnancy-tested-in-calf (PTIC) cows rounded out Friday's sale, reaching a high of $3410 a unit for a draft of Angus PTIC cows offered by Temerity Pastoral, Coolah.

The top price was well up on the previous sale's high of $3000 and most pens on offer sold for about $3000.

Friday's sale marked the Tamworth Livestock Selling Agents Association's 10^th annual Tag a Calf feature weaner and store sale, which helped raise more than $10,000 for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service.

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