Ryan Dellit, manager Graham Henderson & Co Dalby, advised me that Dalby and the surrounding areas on the Darling Downs are currently looking for rain. The majority of grass paddocks across the area have a good body of feed but have received a few frosts over the last week. A large amount of oats has been planted locally with most of it having received little or no rain since planting resulting in smaller numbers of cattle on crop at this stage. Limited winter crop planting has been done on the Darling Downs due to the continuing dry weather. A large percentage of chickpeas have been deep planted in the area with some barley and very little wheat with some country needing 1 to 2 inches of rain prior to planting.
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Dalby cattle numbers have been consistent with yardings of 4500 to 6000 head. Large numbers of cattle being drawn from western areas and interstate. The cattle market remains strong with processors, feeder operators and restockers continuing to secure stock at solid rates with price increases seen over the last fortnight.
Ryan added The Western Downs Regional Council and the Dalby Livestock Agents have been working hard on implementing EU selling accreditation within the Dalby Saleyards. This is well on track to begin in the coming month giving producers more options on marketing their cattle.
Wool report
Jason Thomson, Schute Bell reported once again despite a small national offering the wool market failed to find much traction, particularly in the finer micron categories.
Prices were cheaper from the outset most notably for any lots lacking in staple strength or carrying a medium to high degree of vegetable matter. AWEX reported that better style lots fared relatively well in comparison, and continue to be in great demand.
A bright spot in the market was the strength of the limited number of medium to broader Merino fleece types. Prices for these types are showing solid resilience with some gaining a few cents over the course of the week. 24,976 bales were sold nationally with a passed in rate of 12.2pc.
Major buyers included Chinatex, Techwool and Tianyu. With the western region not selling, next week’s expected national offering falls to 25,278 bales, which will be the lowest weekly offering for the season to date. Even with the market falling over the past four weeks it remains at historically high levels except for the broader crossbred types. The last day of sales this week hinted at a slowdown in the decline of prices, hopefully indicating the current downtrend is nearing an end.
