STEPHEN Kajewski, Bettafield, Gindie, was happy with a "pleasing return" on a pen of empty Charbray cows he sold through the Emerald cattle sale on July 18.
His offering was part of a yarding of nearly 2000 head, where cows over 520kg sold to a top price of 217c/kg for an overall average of 206c and cows in the 450-520kg range averaged 193c/kg after hitting a high of 213c/kg.
Mr Kajewski conceded the sale was down slightly on the previous week but still welcome.
"That was a good sale and I have been waiting for the prices to come up a bit," he said. "Last week was a real good sale, but these results were also pretty good.
"Our cattle are fairly well known and Teys bought this pen. They have been buying our cattle for 20 years. They know how our cattle yield out."
Mr Kajewski said the pen comprised empty cows identified after routine pregnancy testing.
"We try to work on a 10-year cycle with a 10 percent changeover in our herd," he said.
"With the numbers we run, we have at least 50 new heifers coming on every year, which means every year I can trade out of 50 to 60 cows to keep my numbers about the same. We would normally have 500 but we are back a bit to around 420 because of the dry.
"We dug a little deeper into the cows this year because of the dry just to lighten our numbers.
"We preg tested about 200 Charbray cows and only got 11 empty cows. We run right up to 90-95 percent in-calf rate. I am disappointed if we are under 90pc because we have been breeding fertility into our herd for 30 years."
In other highlights Andrew and Sonya Harvey, Kenlogan, Clermont, sold Droughtmaster steers to a top of 280c/kg and Byron and Kate Heading, Moranbah, sold Charolais steers up to 292c/kg.
Mike and Vicki Donovan, Coolibah, Capella sold Brahman cross cows to 197c/kg to weigh 557kg or $1099, and the Sibson Family, Cotherstone, Dysart sold Droughtmaster cross heifers to 234c/kg to weigh 234kg or $548.
A spokesman for the Emerald agents said a large portion of the yarding consisted of slaughter cattle and returned slightly cheaper rates than a week ago.
But weaner types found strong support with most categories increasing in price between 10-15 cents.
Heavy bullocks over 550kg topped at 295c/kg to average 283 cents, while steers 500-550kg topped at 282c/kg to average 258 cents.
Steers in the weaner weight ranges made as much as 292c/kg to average 258c/kg and heavy heifers over 400kg topped out at 275c/kg to average 247c/kg while heifers in the weaner weight ranges made 260c/kg to average 223c/kg.