Cows with calves sell to $3400 at Forbes auction

The quality of the yarding was an improvement on recent store sales and prices were also dearer for the 2000 head offered.

Forbes Livestock and Agency Company director Tim Mackay said vendors did well to get their cattle out of paddocks for the sale in what had been extremely wet conditions.

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Some vendors said that with even more rain on the way, they took the opportunity to get cattle off their country before it was too wet to move them again.

Many lines of cows were in top condition and the older prime cows could have suited either a restocker or a processor.

Weaner steers sold from $1700 to $2050 a head and weaner heifers attracted bids from $1500 to $2020.

A limited number of yearlings sold from about $2000 to $2240.

Pregnancy-tested-in-calf heifers were in demand from $1700 to $2700, while the PTIC cows ranged from $2280 to $2950.

Dry cows were sold in cents a kilogram and attracted bids from processors. They sold for about the 416c/kg mark and the top pen tipped the scales at 715kg and sold to a processor in Victoria.

Overall, the quality of the cows with calves was better than recent months' sales and most runs sold from $2800 to $3400 a unit.

The Dunford family, Narran Plains, Brewarrina, sold several lines of cows, cows with calves, steers and heifers.

Their pen of 675kg Charolais/Santa Gertrudis cows with calves topped the market at $3400. The cows were of mixed age and had been running with Charolais and Angus bulls. They also sold a slightly lighter pen of cows (653kg) with calves for $3340.

DJ and H Tildsley, Eugowra, sold six 22-month-old, 465kg Hereford-cross cows with calves for $3360, while CD Thomas sold four- to six-year-old Charolais-cross cows with calves for $3300. The cows had been running back with a Circle 8 Angus bull.

Nine 700kg PTIC Charolais cows from the Dunford family also topped that section of the sale at $2950 a head. Not far behind was another pen of six 703kg PTIC cows that sold for $2940.

G3 Partnership, Forbes, sold several pens of heifers joined over an eight-week period and due to calve in autumn/early winter. Their top pen of Angus heifers tipped the scales at 421kg and sold for $2700. They were 18- to 22-months and had been joined low birth weight Ozzie Angus bulls.

D and A Doyle, Euabalong, sold 10 18- to 20-month-old PTIC Angus heifers for $2480.

LJ and JM Charlton, Parkes, sold seven 342kg Angus heifers aged nine to 10 months for $2020.

The Walmsley family sold nine 10- to 12-month-old Angus heifers, 338kg, for $2000.

In the steers, O'Dea Partnership, Tullamore, sold 11 eight- to 10-month-old Angus steers weighing 310kg for $2050, while Cliff Healey, "Hillside", Parkes, sold 13 nine- to 10-month-old Hereford steers, 340kg, for $2020.