Blackall saleyards' first cattle sale under organic conditions a success

Boulia’s Rick Britton was on hand at the history-making sale, the first by a Queensland saleyard to sell cattle under national and USDA organic certification, and said he would be back.

He was one of four vendors taking advantage of the organic selling space granted to Blackall in June, having by far the largest offering, of 814 head.

While no strong premium was identified for the organic cattle, agent Tom Brodie said prices were firm in a market that has been dropping off in recent weeks.

“The prices were on a par with Roma and Dalby this week, and that was in line with our thoughts,” he said. “We didn’t have as many organic bidders as we’d hoped but that’s a legacy of the season.”

Goodwood Pastoral at Boulia received a top price of 332.2c/kg for their organic Santa Gertrudis steers, or $884 a head, and 300.2c/kg for their sisters, a price per head of $739.

The average for all the Brittons’ organic offering, which included Angus, Droughtmaster, Charbray and Brahman cattle, was $687/head for the steers, and $544/head for the heifers.

Around 35 per cent of the organic yarding stayed in the system, with James and Sarah Pearson, Terrick, Blackall purchasing four pens of steers, and Hugh Button, Crossmoor, Longreach, taking some heifers.

Mt Macquarie Pastoral Co, Blackall, sold Simmental cross heifers for 290.2c/kg, weighing 384kg to return $1115/hd.

“We met the market of the day,” Rick said.

“If the season was round the other way, I’m sure the demand would be there.

“Now I’ll go back home and do my sums and see if it’s viable, but I already feel that it is.”

The cattle were loaded at Boulia on Tuesday morning and arrived at the Blackall yards at nightfall.

Blackall saleyards manager, Dave Carter, was jubilant at the conclusion of the sale.

“It worked like a dream, thanks to the team effort,” he said. “It was above my expectations, especially when some cattle stayed in the system.”

Thanks to the existing EU accreditation, Dave said yard staff and agents were all used to the segregation rules, and all the systems put in place worked well.

One of those was not using paint brands for the organic pens.

Dave said that until someone came up with organic paint, he didn’t want to run the risk of using the ordinary paint.

“The main thing to know is, don’t box them, and I had a yard set aside.

“We never box cattle anyway because there’s all different vendors, so everyone’s trained not to.

“If you’re not feeding organic cattle, it’s quite easy.”

He was especially pleased that local organic producers were operating at the sale.

“Imagine when the country freshens up, what can be done,” he said.