INJUNE producer Bruce Briscoe was given a rich endorsement from buyers at the Roma store sale today after selling his first turnoff of weaner steers since shifting from a feeder focus.
Despite a tougher market, Mr Briscoe watched on as his pen of 30 steers from the 6070 hectare (15,000 acre) property, Gooimbah, sold to 307c/kg at 355kg to return $1092/hd.
It was sweet acknowledgement for his decision to turn away from supplying feeder steers and instead look to turn them off earlier.
“I’m producing too many weaners for the amount of country that I have,” Mr Briscoe said.
“So...this is the first lot where I’m going to go from producing feeder cattle to selling my steers as weaners and then keep my heifers to go on as feeders.
“We run our bulls in all year round so we get weaners coming off at different times of the year.”
His cattle operation is run in conjunction with his mother, step sister and brother-in-law in which the herd is of Hereford, Droughtmaster and Santa genetics.
While Mr Briscoe had hoped his cattle were worth the premium price, he was worried their quality and weight may have held buyers back.
“I just thought they might have been a bit too good to get that big money but I’m very happy,” he said.
Also selling at the store sale were Roma vendors Ian and Joy Macallister of Roma Downs, and their grandson Ben Whip.
The Macallister family run a black herd of Angus, Brangus and Ultrablack genetics with their breeders on Struan and Drumfern, both 100km south of Roma, and progeny brought back to Roma Downs for growing.
While the family usually walk their cattle to the saleyards to avoid shrinkage and loss of weight, this time they chose to truck them.
The family sold 379 steers at 286c/kg and averaging 370kg to return $1062/hd while their 299 heifers made 260c/kg at 334kg to return $869/hd.
It was a later than usual turnoff for the Macallister family. They said due to a drier season last year they’d chose to retain the cattle longer to reach ideal sale weights.