Strong demand from restockers has driven a red hot Roma store market today with weaner steers making up to 409c/kg.
Just under 2000 head were yarded for Tuesday's sale which was still wet underfoot from falls ranging from 50 to 150mm in the district over the past seven days.
Market expectations were high given the recent rain and producers like Ross Becker, Old Bogandilla, Dulacca, were keen to capitalise on strengthening prices.
He sold 50 Santa and Brahman cross feeder steers with the best, a pen of 15 Santa cross steers, making 389c/kg at 375kg to return $1458/head. The entire line, averaging 349kg, made 373c/kg or $1299/head.
Mr Becker said he was very pleased with the sale.
"Anything over 300 cents and you are making money and because I bought them right they've made a good profit,' he said.
Mr Becker purchased the steers in July and has been supplementing them with pellets but felt they were likely "to go backwards chasing green pick" following 130mm over the past week on his property 17km north of Dulacca.
He would normally hope to run about 500 head of trade cattle on his property but has just 12 head left.
"I'll give it a few months and then we'll start restocking," he said.
"We will have to pay a lot more but I'm not too concerned. As long as the money is right at the other end (of the market) we should survive."
Roma agent, Brad Neven, Watkins and Co, said the Roma store market had seen a huge increase in just a couple of weeks.
Mr Neven said he'd recently sold a line of weaner steers from the same vendor over two weeks. The first mob made 268c/kg and the rest, sold just two weeks later made 399c/kg.
"So in two weeks, the market had jumped more than 120c/kg," he said.
Weaner steers under 220kg topped at 382c/kg and averaged 357c/kg at this week's sale with weaner steers in the 220-280kg range reached 409c/kg and averaged 391c/kg.
Steers in the 280-350kg range reached 394c/kg and averaged 367c/kg, and steers in the 350-400kg range reached 389c/kg and averaged 378c/kg.
Feeder steers in the 400-550kg range topped at 365c/kg and averaged 351c/kg.
Mr Neven said cow prices were also extremely strong.
"We sold a line of 322 cows from one vendor that averaged 536kg that made 297c/kg and topped at 305c/kg," he said.
"And the cows were all HGP treated so they would have made more if they hadn't have been."
Mr Neven said the strong prices were expected to continue now that there had been some decent rainfall.
"It's just a critical shortage of all forms of store cattle whether they be feeder or grower cattle," he said.
"We had that many turning up to buy replacement cattle today that saw how strong the sale was and they've gone home to rethink."