RAIN may have caused the second annual Ray White Dalby feature weaner and breeder sale to be postponed, but it did not dampen interest as steers reached $2435 a head.
The peak of the sale was reached for a pen of 13 Droughtmaster steers, which weighed an average of 458 kilograms, sold for 531c/kg or $2435/hd, on behalf of TJ and MB O'Connor from the Nandine district.
Not only did the O'Connors achieve the highest price of the day, but they also netted the award for champion pen of feeder steers, for a different draft of 19 Droughtmaster steers, weighing an average of 448kg, which also sold for 531c/kg or $2384.
Competition judge John Norris, JBS, Darling Downs, also put Fucheng Woodlands Pty Ltd, Westmar on the winners list after taking out the champion pen of feeder heifers with a draft of 13 Angus heifers which weighed 413kg on average and sold for 560c/kg or $2318.
Mineral Resources Pty Ltd took out the award for champion pen of weaner heifers with a draft of 17 Angus heifers, which weighed 300kg on average and sold for 686c/kg or $2058.
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A run of Speckle Park steers out of Simbrah cows and by a Wattle Grove Speckle Park bull weighing an average of 300kg secured the champion pen of weaner steers on behalf of Bryan and Arlie Wormwell, Monivae, Tara, when they were knocked down for 618c/kg or $1857.
"There was a really good line up of steers and heifers here today [Thursday]," Mr Norris said.
"The breed type and the quality was all there, which made for really tough judging."
Ray White Rural Dalby director and principal David Felsch said prices were similar to Dalby's weekly sale the day before.
"I thought feeder steers were on par from yesterday [Wednesday], but there wasn't too many heavier feeder steers here for the weekly sale," Mr Felsch said.
"The feeder heifers were probably about five to 10c/kg better, while the quality was certainly as strong as yesterday too."
Mr Felsch said the majority of feeder steers and heifers in the 800-head yarding sold from about $1900 to $2100, while most weaner steers and heifers averaged just under $2000.
"There was a few good runs of black cattle that sold really well, especially one draft out of Kingaroy, while crossbred weaner steers also sold well," he said.
"Weaners were solid across the board, we also got into some pretty light cattle that sold really well in terms of dollars per kilo, but I think people were mostly buying to a dollar value, as opposed to cents per kilo value.
"We saw some 250kg to 320kg weaners and some lighter 150kg to 210kg calves as well, but they still sold for well over the seven dollar mark, which was good to see.
"For those heavier weaners, the crossbred stuff was closer to the 650c/kg mark, while the premium for Angus cattle remained prevalent, selling for about the 700c/kg mark."
Billy Jupp
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
