Charters Towers Combined Agents yarded a total of 1146 cattle on January 16 consisting of 299 prime cattle and 847 store cattle. The prime cattle consisted of 71 bullocks, 14 heifers, 195 cows and 19 bulls. Store cattle yarded: 494 steers, 340 heifers, 5 mickey bulls and 8 cows and calves.
Cattle comprised of very few well finished cattle with most showing the signs of the prolonged dry. Good prime cattle were met with strong demand with the balance all falling in value since last year. The yarding was drawn from Richmond, Hughenden and local and coastal areas.
Prime Quotes: Bullocks were quoted 10c easier, heifers were unchanged, cows were 10-20c easier and bulls were 20-30c easier on last sale’s rates
Steers and bullocks under 500kg sold to 275c and averaged 217c, and those over 500kg topped at 286c to average 273c. Heifers under 440kg sold to 256c and averaged 194c, while heifers over 440kg topped at 231c, averaging 231c. Cows under 400kg made 205c and averaged 130c, while cows over 400kg reached 231c, averaging 202c. Bulls under 450kg made 250c and averaged 203c, while bulls over 450kg reached 259c to average 236c.
Bullocks topped at 286c/kg sold on a/c T Whitten, May Downs, Hughenden that weighed 540kg to return $1545/hd. Best priced trade heifers were presented on a/c PL Corfield, Charters Towers that sold for 256c and weighed 440kg to return $1127/hd. The top pen of cows was sold by G Shaw, Richmond for 231c weighing 610kg to return $1410/hd. Bulls sold on a/c Pedracini Grazing Trust, Liontown, Charters Towers topped at 248c and weighed 630kg to return $1563/hd.
Store Quotes: Store cattle were quality lines of steers and heifers all showing the signs from the drier season. Restockers were limited with prices falling across all descriptions.
Steers under 200kg reached 277c to average 245c, steers 200 – 320kg sold to 258c, averaging 242c, and steers 320 – 400kg topped at 257c and averaged 248c. Mickeys under 400kg averaged 154c. Heifers under 200kg topped at 175c and averaged 149c, heifers 200 – 320kg sold to 200c, averaging 170c, while heifers 320 – 370kg made 182c to average 169c.
A pen of 15 steers a/c Lestree Down Past Co, Urdera, Charters Towers made 277c and weighed 175kg, returning and average of $485/hd. A good pen of 11 heifers a/c T&S Pratt, McKinlay, Julia Creek made 200c, weighed 263kg returning $526/hd. Eight x 8 cows and calves sold on a/c Mickan Pastoral Co returned $530/unit.