Gunnedah’s weekly fat cattle sale saw prices of steers and fat cattle maintain their current market value while the heifer market also steadied.
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Following recent spring rain in the region, cattle numbers at the sale steadied on previous weeks as the usual buyers were in attendance.
Nik Hannaford from Elders Gunnedah said the price of most cattle types had firmed.
“Prices at the moment are not disastrous by any means,” Mr Hanaford said.
“Heavy steers and bullocks were probably up by 10 cents a kilo, the cow and heavy cow prices improved about the same.”
Mr Hanaford said the overall quality at Tuesday’s sale was good.
“The consistency of the 2500 to 3000 cattle at the sale was overall quite good,” Mr Hannaford said.
“It was generally a good yarding.”
Mr Hannaford said inconsistent rain around the region helped maintain cattle sale numbers.
“Not everyone has been getting the same rain,” he said.
“Areas west and south of Gunnedah in terms of their season are still in the balance and need a good drink.
“I think a widespread two inches of rain across the board would be nice.”
Boggabri stock agent Guy Gallen from Jacob Anderson Partners attributed the steadying of cattle prices to the recent rainfall .
“It’s definitely helped freshen things up a bit,” Mr Gallen said.
“I think the rain will have given people a lot of confidence that it can still rain.”
Mr Gallen said cattle prices at market were enticing sellers to choose to take cattle to market and not sell directly to feed lots.
“At the moment depending on the quality and type of cattle you’re selling, you can get 10 to 20 cents a kilo more at market than selling direct to the feed lots,” he said.
“I’d say you are better off taking certain types of cattle to market.
“In some instances you could average around 318 to 320 cents at market or around 290 to 300 cents at different feed lots depending on the quality and type of cattle.”
Mr Hannaford agreed that sending certain cattle types to market instead of feed lots was beneficial to the seller.
“It all depends on the type of cattle you are selling,” Mr Hannaford said.
“Depending on the category it can be six of one, half a dozen of the other in terms of selling to a feed lot over selling them at the market.”