Charters Towers Combined Agents yarded a total of 1369 cattle on Wednesday, consisting of 914 prime cattle and 455 store cattle. The prime cattle consisted of 202 bullocks, 89 heifers, 544 cows and 79 bulls. The store cattle consisted of 189 steers, 240 heifers and 25 x 23 cows and calves.
Cattle comprised of mixed quality with majority of the cows in store condition from the north. There were very limited isolated good condition cows and bullocks. The yarding was drawn from Cloncurry, Richmond, Croydon, Georgetown, Torrens Creek and local and coastal areas.
PRIME QUOTES: Bullocks were quoted 10c easier, heifers were 8c easier, good quality cows unchanged and bulls were 10-12c easier on last week’s rates.
Heifers under 440kg sold to 221c and averaged 177c, while heifers over 440kg topped at 223c, averaging 209c. Cows under 400kg made 166c and averaged 79c, while cows over 400kg reached 213c, averaging 176c. Steers and bullocks under 500kg sold to 236c and averaged 199c, and those over 500kg topped at 249c to average 226c. Bulls over 450kg made 244c and averaged 196c.
Bullocks topped at 249c sold on a/c D & D Jones that weighed 570kg to return $1420/head. Best priced trade heifers were presented on a/c SJ & RJ Neal that sold for 223c and weighed 520kg to return $1160/head. The top pen of cows was sold by W & J Windus for 196c, weighing 536kg to return $1051/head. Bulls sold on a/c Turley Cattle Co topped at 244c and weighed 810kg to return $1978/head.
STORE QUOTES: Store cattle comprised of small lines of mixed quality steers and heifers.
Steers under 200kg reached 206c, steers 200 – 320kg sold to 210c, averaging 168c, steers 320 – 400kg topped at 233c and averaged 205c and steers over 400kg sold to 230c, averaging 206c. Heifers under 200kg topped at 208c and averaged 144c, heifers 200 – 320kg sold to 208c, averaging 147c, while heifers 320 – 370kg made 200c to average 183c.
A pen of 12 steers a/c Mt Douglas Pastoral Co made 225c, weighed 393kg returning an average of $885/head. A good pen of 23 heifers on a/c Mt Douglas Pastoral Co made 196c, weighed 352kg returning an average of $690/head. A pen of 19 light heifers sold on a/c RJ & AG Christensen made 208c weighing 236kg to return $490/head. A pen of 25 x 23 light condition aged cows and calves sold on a/c of Cunningham Cattle co returned $460/unit.