Feilding stock sale

Strong demand for beef cows is being seen at the yards.

Thursday saw a yarding of just over 600 beef cows sell to very strong demand from those looking to build their herds up again. Cows were up to $200 dearer than last year and, in a very good sign for the industry, works buyers were not able to beat the cattle breeders and all the top cows were retained.

The store sale started with a few more run-with-ram ewes and included a pen of run-with-ram ewe hoggets. All these sheep were just average and sold well considering.

A much larger yarding of store lambs had been advertised but the effects of the latest cyclone led to many cancellations and only just under 16,000 lambs were sold in general rain that only eased with the southerly wind change.

The very first pen, 192 woolly cryptorchids from M Duffy, Eketahuna, sold for $118 which remained the day's top price. These lambs looked good wringing wet so would have looked even better if dry. Daker Ridge, Stratford, sold 134 shorn lambs for $116. The top ewe lambs were the 301 woolly Romneys from "Kuratahi", Taihape, which sold for $108.50 and would make good ewes.

These better lambs remained essentially steady on recent markets. Once the sale moved into the lesser cuts of the males and into the majority of the ewe lambs, there was a perceptible easing in cents/kg.

This was not dramatic but it was noticeable that lambs that would have sold for $95 last week sold for $90 at this sale. There is a definite buyer resistance to wethered lambs and, on a day like today with fewer buyers, these lambs are marked back. This mostly drove the market easing which was more noticeable as the weight lowered.

The wet conditions impacted on the cattle sale to some extent, as well. Only those buyers with dry paddocks or feedlots were very interested in climbing into the cattle market so while the better beef cattle sold well enough, there was much reduced interest in the lesser dairy types. This is typical of large yardings in adverse conditions.

Ferndene Land Co, Hunterville, sold 8 Angus and Angus/Hereford cross rising three year steers for $1850 ($2.95) and Te Whake Farm, Taihape, sold 23 Charolais cross rising two year steers for $1792 ($3.10) but much of the steer yarding could not reach the cents/kg levels of recent weeks.

Bulls eased last week but stayed roughly steady on those levels this week, even with a larger yarding which does show the bull buyers turn up if there are numbers.

Karaka Court Trust, Cheltenham, sold 20 rising two year Friesian bulls for $1535 ($2.83) which compared well with last week. Weaner bulls were in massive numbers with over 400 head but after earlier looking barely steady, finished fairly steady, overall, on last week with a few pens over $900 (mid-$3.80's).

Collis Farming, Kumeroa, sold a number of pens with 28 weaner Friesian bulls selling for $930 ($2.87) to top the section.

The heifer numbers were about 100 less than last week without any real standouts as in recent weeks. Sale prices were roughly steady for the older heifers but they, too, are off recent highs. This is no surprise as winter approaches and the better heifers have mostly already found new homes. The rising yearling heifer section was dominated by dairy cross heifers.

Sheep (16,618): ewes & lambs, RWR (837); $67-$123; lambs (15,781); 41-44kg, $101.50-$118, $2.48-$2.79, steady; 36-40kg, $95-$110, $2.52-$3.04, ease; 31-35kg, $85-$106.50, $2.68-$3.08, ease; 26-30kg, $76-$91, $2.76-$3.23, ease.
Cattle (1901): steers; 3+ (25), 587kg, $1750, $2.98; R3 (237), 436-627kg, $1000-$1850, $2.22-$3.17, ease; R2 (464), 272-578kg, $810-$1792, $2.51-$3.21, ease; R1 (73), 140-270kg, $590-$1065, $3.50-$5.00; bulls; R2 (205), 357-542kg, $950-$1535, $2.66-$3.01, steady; R1 (428), 139-240kg, $540-$930, $2.61-$4.64, steady; heifers; R2&3 (292), 240-490kg, $755-$1310, $2.55-$3.14, steady; R1 (79), 130-245kg, $500-$730, $2.88-$3.84.