Ongoing dry conditions may mean producers are forced to offload, but the strong market for quality young cattle is easing the sting.
Roma yarded 6460 head on Tuesday, with the market holding firm across most categories.
Andrew and Libby Price, Miegunyah, Dirranbandi, sold 108 Braford-cross heifers averaging 214kg for an average of 252c/kg and top price of 258c/kg.
TopX agent, Jason Russell, St George, said the Prices were forced to offload because of the continuing dry.
“They wanted to make sure that they had enough feed to get them through to after Christmas and hopefully this will do it now because it’s just started to rain for them,” he said.
“Normally they’d retain to take onto the heavy feeder job, but due to the circumstances they’ve had to unload early.
“The market wasn’t as good as I thought it was going to be, but it was still quite a firm market, and considering how dry it is, and how dry it has been for 12 months, the prices are still holding very well.”
Good value young cattle buying combined with the prospect of the market lifting hard and fast once rain arrives is ramping up activity on the trading front.
With the price of younger cattle on a cents per kilogram basis on par with heavy cattle, a rare situation driven by both drought and strong demand at the finished end, cattle traders are reaping as profit all they make in weight gain.