Several large consignments of PTIC cattle - including one major regular consignment from South Australia - underpinned the all-female feature cattle sale at WVLX Mortlake on Thursday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
But the top pen of the day went to local Pammure vendor Glenavon, with every pen of their consignment of 47 PTIC Angus heifers outperforming other larger lines.
They sold pens of 12 and 13 PTIC heifers, 625kg and 618kg with Banquet blood to Weatherly Angus bulls, set to commence calving early February, for $2900 each.
Two other pens, each consisting of 11 PTIC Angus heifers, 556kg and 532kg, sold for $2759 and $2375 respectively.
The annual sale, which consisted of PTIC heifers and PTIC cows along with a run of cows with calves at foot, had regular vendors returning offering good shape in their stock.
Stuart Hann, Lucendale, SA, travelled across the border to yard just over 200 Angus PTIC heifers to Nampara heifer bulls, set to commence calving in mid-February.
The top of that run went to a pen of 14 PTIC Angus heifers sold for $2000 per head, while another pen of 10 PTIC Angus-cross heifers sold at $2250.
Brian O'Halloran livestock agent Anthony Mahony, said despite the good quality seen in those lines, the sale was up and down.
"Generally those Angus heifers were sold in that range of $1800-$2300 range of price," he said.
"[Regarding] Angus cows - there were a few dispersals here - the best of those made to about $24500 for young cows, but again they were in the $1800-$2300 range".
He said the predominantly local buyers were set out to make specific purchases, which influenced the fluctuating prices.
"Buyers were being pretty picky and choosy today," he said.
"AuctionsPlus was reasonably active, but a lot of the cattle remained local, with a few going to South Australia."
"The middle runs of cattle just didn't make as much as we thought, but all in all, vendors would be reasonably pleased."
Interest was sparked from the galleries late in the heifer run with Birregurra vendor Cadarga Springs with pens of PTIC heifers to AI sire Texas Reality P224, then backed up by Weeran bulls, to commence calving in February.
Their top pen of their consignment of 119 cattle was a pen of 12 PTIC Angus heifers sold for $2350.
"We bought these cattle out at Hamilton and Mortlake, then done an AI program to get them calving in about five weeks, and are all now on the job at the moment," Cadarga Springs manager Joel Lucas said.
"The price they did last year, we didn't think we would go so well, but we're very surprised with how they've sold."
The cow and calf portion of the sale did not contain many outstanding pens, with Welbourne selling a pen of 12 Angus cow and calves $2150.
Matlock Farm Partnerships also had a large consignment at the sale, selling 132 cattle in total, with one pen of 10 PTIC heifers sold for $1975.
GM & JG O'Keefe topped the joined cow portion of the sale, with a pen of 13 Angus cows sold for $2450.
D & S Welch sold 10 Angus cows and calves for $2020.
A J Dyke had a significant dispersal of Hereford and Angus PTIC heifers, with one pen of 15 PTIC Angus heifers sold for $1650.
