A well-prepared line of Angus weaner cattle - most fed at great expense through a very dry spring - dominated the yarding at Tenterfield last Friday with 2784 head on offer.
Steers 200 to 280 kilograms, 608hd, averaged 327.7kg or $926 and sold to a top of 412c/kg and $1134.
Heifer calves in the same weight range, 480 head, averaged 249.8c/kg or $620 to top at 304c/kg and $834.
Steers weighing 280-330kg made up the most numerous category with 950 head, averaging 389 cents a kilogram or $1178 a head to reach a top of 414c/kg and $1350.
Their sisters in the same weight category, 270hd, averaged 275c/kg or $812 and reached top bids of 304c/kg and $944.
Sue and Neville Grogan, Timbera Road, offered Angus steers with Speriby North blood that made a top of $1464 for 375kg at 390c/kg and averaged $1273 sold through long-term repeat buyer BJA, Inverell, to be backgrounded on oats ahead of feedlot entry.
The Grogan's calves weighed 15kg heavier than last year but brought $135 a head less in this softer market.
Their heifers topped Friday's sale at $980 for 335kg.
"Last year their sisters made $1246 after we sold the tops," said Mr Grogan who vowed to trim input costs and threatened to take a decent caravan holiday.
"It's hard to follow the market at the moment," he said. "But we understand there is a lot of cattle on feed now."
Scott and Libby Sharpe, Applebutt Partnership on the Timbarra Road, sold 150 European Union-accredited Angus steers with Speriby North blood to average 340.6kg at 407.8c/kg or $1389.
Their heavier steers at 368kg made $1494 at 406c/kg to top the Tenterfield sale, with those calves headed to the Dalby district of Queensland through Kellco.
Dumaresq Valley irrigators Angelo and Nichole Saccon sold Angus heifers with Inglebrae blood, 273.5kg for 292c/kg or $798.
Saccon steers reached $1230 for 310kg at 396c/kg - a price that returned $300 less than last year's progeny for a similar weight.
"We'll cut expenses," said Mr Saccon who is also concerned about unlikely water allocation out of the Glen Lyon dam next year. "We'll sell off more cows."
Mark and Helen Clothier, Dingo Hill, sold EU-accredited Angus steers to 414c/kg for 322kg or $1333.
Their best heifers were kept at home but those which topped their portion of the sale made 284c/kg for 300kg or $852 to finish on grass in the Killarney country through Wickham farms.
Andrew and Michelle Bates, Woodlands Pastoral at Black Swamp, sold Angus-cross weaner steers with Speriby North blood, 400c/kg for 305kg or $1221, going to Dalby, Qld.
Their heifers 295kg made 282c/kg or $832.
Darryl McCarthy, Silver Downs at Tenterfield, sold his own bred Black Balancer cattle with the best steers 388c/kg for 334kg or $1297.
Black Balancer cattle are 75 per cent Angus with the remainder a balance of Gelbvieh and Brahman to create tropically adapted black cattle.
The Black Balancer heifers, one pen only, made 260c/kg for 305kg or $794.
In general the sale calves went mainly to Queensland and the New England, with a wedge of heifers to Walcha, 130 head at 270c/kg for 270kg.
The sale was hosted by Ray White Tenterfield.
