THE region’s drought conditions continued to impact the Gunnedah weekly cattle sale with 3000 head of cattle up for bids on Tuesday.
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Usual cattle buyers were in attendance at the sale as the number of cattle forced to market due to the lack of feed and rain in the region continued to see a high number of cows and wieners up for sale.
Gunnedah stock agent Guy Gallen told The Namoi Valley Independent the market for cows was under pressure.
“We had a lot of cows and wieners at the sale again on Tuesday,” Mr Gallen said.
“The higher number of cows means that the entire cow market is being put under pressure.
“It doesn’t come down to a quality thing at all, it’s purely an over-supply issue due to cows being the thing that most drought affected producers are looking to sell.
“It’s not just one class within the cow market either, it’s across all the weight classes because there is so many of them being brought to be sold.”
Mr Gallen said the influx of cows being brought to market was likely to decrease in the coming weeks.
“Producers are selling them purely because of feed supply issues and there isn’t anything else to sell,” he said.
“I’d say that trend of over-supply of cattle is going to continue for about another month or so.
“I think by the end of June to mid July everyone who has planned to sell at some stage and not feed through will have sold, so that should hopefully see the issue of over-supply come back a bit.”
The Jacob Anderson stock agent said he was expecting to see a gap in the market appear in the coming months.
“Given how long everyone in the region and beyond has been under drought conditions I think a gap in numbers at the market is likely,” he said.
“Drought is really the only factor that has caused this, the quality is still there we haven’t really seen buyers walking past the cattle at all, there is still some quality around but certainly I think you will see numbers at the market come back at some point.”
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Mr Gallen urged producers to continue to follow the Australian Meat and Livestock Association (MLA)’s fit to load policy.
“I’d say most producers in our area are right on top of it,” he said.
“But as times get drier and tougher it is so important we continue to follow the policy.
“I urge everyone to continue to do the right thing, keep using common sense and if they are in doubt to leave it out.”
The Gunnedah weekly cattle sale is held every Tuesday morning at the Gunnedah saleyards.
Billy Jupp
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
