Roma store sale attracts more than 8000 head

Mr Newton had planned to sell the cattle at his regular Blackall sale at the end of last month but had held off hoping for forecast rain that never came. 

Instead he sent his 109 steers and 74 heifers to Roma where the steers sold for 383c/kg averaging 261kg to return $1005/hd. The heifers made 356c/kg at 221kg to return $787/hd. 

He said it was “drying off pretty bad” at their 14,163 hectare home block.

Property they have had at Blackall for seven years and is currently the driest the family has seen it. 

“We have only got 180 to 200 surplus heifers over there just off that winter rain last year,” he said.

“They are holding up. They are on liquid supplements.”

He said they had only received an odd storm of rain this year and one end of their property had really missed out. 

“(They’re) probably a bit lighter than what we usually take off (but it’s) just to pull the cows through winter,” he said. 

Mr Newton and wife Sally mainly have a Charolais and Droughtmaster cross herd with traces of Charbray and Simbrah. 

It was the opposite problem for John McEwan and family, Wyoming, north of Roma who sold 84 cross bred steers for 328c/kg at 430kg to return $1415/hd.

The McEwan family have a 2023 hectare main block where they run a cross bred herd with Hereford, Santa, Angus and Charolais genetics.

He said while it was drying off they still had feed.

They usually sell light feeder steers but this time they were a bit heavier after picking up from a turn in the season.

“We sell ours pretty direct most of the time,” Mr McEwan said.

“(I) sell all my heifers pretty well to Brindley Park (feedlot) and (have) been doing that with my steers as well lately but these fellas got a bit too heavy for that.” 

While top prices for steers were up on last week, averages were down by up to 15c.

Steers under 220kg averaged 393c/kg compared with 402c/kg the previous week. In the 220-280kg weight range steers averaged 370c/kg down from 380c/kg while the 280-350kg range went from 362c/kg to 347c/kg.

Steers weighing 350-400kg averaged 328c/kg this week compared with 338c/kg the previous week.

Cattle were sourced from as far as Augathella, Morven, Tambo and St George but it was local vendors who were most represented in the 8029 head yarding.

Landmark selling agent Rod Turner said there had been complaints about unloading cattle on Monday night but he believed the lineup was due to the large quantity of local cattle arriving at the same time.

He said usually the yarding was filled with 3000 or 4000 head of western cattle which were unloaded on the weekend.

In terms of market predictions, he said it depended on numbers 

“I think you will see an increase of numbers in early July and then numbers fade as we go deeper into winter.”