Last Thursday’s dairy sale at Toogoolawah saw a wide variety of prices paid for 150 Friesian and Brown Swiss milking cows and 50 dries and heifers. The sale by Cochrane Livestock Rural Services on behalf of the Hobart family saw the end of dairying after decades. The Hobarts will switch to beef cattle.
Top price was $3550 for Lot 22 with a Brown Swiss milker Lot 1 selling for $3100. There was strong demand from Darling Downs, NSW and Wide Bay farmers throughout the sale for cows with low cell counts.
The Hobart herd had a long history of quality genetic breeding but many cattle had very high cell counts which affected buyer demand for those cattle. A Friesian bull, Lot 210, sold for $3300.
Auctioneer John Cochrane was pleased with the buyer attendance achieving a 75 per cent clearance at a sale average of $1953 including milkers, dries, heifers and four bulls. The high cell count cows were mostly passed in and destined for meatworks. The milk vat sold for $9000 and the Larsen stall gates for $2200.
Cochrane Livestock specialise in dairy sales and their next auction will be in Nanango on Thursday July 27 where 122 quality Friesian and Guernsey milkers from Gayndah will be sold.