Charters Towers Combined Agents yarded a total of 1243 cattle on Wednesday consisting of 584 prime cattle and 659 store cattle. The prime cattle consisted of 126 bullocks, 57 heifers, 327 cows and 74 bulls. Store cattle consisted of 321 steers and 338 heifers.
Cattle comprised of a few smaller lines from the Gulf and Einsaleigh area together with local and coastal cows and bullocks. The yarding was prime to good with store cattle showing signs of the dry.
Prime quotes:
Bullocks were quoted as 4c dearer, heifers were 4c dearer, cows were unchanged and bulls were 15c dearer on last week’s rates.
Steers and bullocks under 500kg sold to 300c and averaged 275c, and those over 500kg topped at 312c to average 296c. Heifers under 440kg sold to 265c and averaged 246c. Cows under 400kg made 233c and averaged 185c, while cows over 400kg reached 263c, averaging 225c. Bulls under 450kg made 316c and averaged 281c, while bulls over 450kg reached 292c to average 276c.
Bullocks topped at 312c for eight bullocks sold on a/c BN Young, Georgetown that weighed 565kg to return $1763/head. Best priced trade heifers were presented on a/c Entriken, Richmond that sold 279c to weigh 480kg and return $1340/head. The top pen of cows were sold by J and S Webster, for 263c and weighed 470kg to return $1237/head. Bulls sold on account Brabon Cattle Co made 288c, weighed 743kg to return $2139.
Store Quotes:
Store cattle were mostly from local and coastal areas along with lower Gulf and Einasleigh. Steers were improved by 15 - 18c and heifers were up by 10¢.
Steers under 200kg reached 332c to average 305c, steers 200 – 320kg sold to 300c, averaging 277c, steers 320 – 400kg topped at 289c and averaged 284c and steers over 400kg sold to 294c to average 290c. Heifers under 200kg topped at 272c and averaged 239c, while heifers 200 – 320kg sold to 271c, averaging 231c.
A pen of eight steers a/c Estate of GW Carrick, Einasleigh made 332c and weighed 189kg, returning an average of $627/head. A good pen of seven heifers a/c B & J Epple, Hughenden made 271c, weighed 301kg and returned an average of $817/head. There were no cows and calves to quote.
