Brangus, Charbray weaners attract bidding frenzy at wet CQLX weaner and feeder sale

Welcome widespread rainfall across the Central Queensland reduced the overall yarding but boosted buyer confidence on the day.

Combined agents yarded 2,078 head on Monday, which featured 1360 steers and 718 heifers.

Weaner steers reached 680c/kg, while weaner heifers also faired reasonably well, reaching a top of 600.2c/kg.

A limited offering of feeder steers on the day, saw steers reach 496c/kg, while heifers attracted 488c/kg.

The second feature sale was part of CQLX's Kubota cattle sale series highlights.

European cross genetics were well sought after on the day, with the Davidson family of Roper Downs at Middlemount, offloaded a quality run of 380 Charbray cross weaners.

Sold by Elders, the Roper Downs draft consisted of 103 Charbray cross heifers and 277 steers.

The Davidson family's top pen of steers reached 670.2c/kg, with the overall lineup averaging 632.96c/kg, weighing 288.21kg, to return $1823.97./hd.

Later in the sale, their heifers attracted a bidding frenzy, with their top pen reaching 600.2c/kg, with the overall offering averaging 250.32kg, to pay 548.05c/kg, to return $1371.88/hd.

The Davidson's say they were lucky to truck the weaners out from their property at Middlemount, before the rain settled in.

Will Davidson said they were pleased with the sale of their weaners.

"I'm glad we trucked them to the Gracemere saleyards on Friday, because since then, our property has received over 80mm of rain," Mr Davidson said.

"This sale usually coincides with our annual wean, and we pull the calves off their mothers and offload them at this sale.

"We run a Charbray commercial breeding operation, and we usually put the cows over Charbray stud bulls."

A quality 206 offering of Brookstone Pastoral Company Brangus steers attracted a lot of interest from the buyers gallery, with their top pen reaching 624.2c/kg.

Overall, the steers averaged 597.79c/kg, weighed 276kg, to return $1649.76/hd.

Later in the sale, the company also sold 100 Brangus heifers, which attracted a top price of 596.2c/kg.

Nutrien Mackay Livestock's Paul Cooper sold the weaners on behalf of the Burston family at Moranbah.

The Brangus offering is of Telpara Hills Brangus bloodlines, and Mr Cooper said the cattle had been weaned for three weeks before sale.

"With the impending rain, Brookstone saw the opportunity to truck the weaners on Friday to the yards," Mr Cooper said.

"The weaners achieved the rates we were expecting, but in saying that, we were very happy with the female portion of the sale, they sold exceptionally well.

"The heifer sale eclipsed our expectations by 20-30 cents.

"The quality of the weaners was received well by the gallery of buyers there and they saw an opportunity to buy some good replacement heifers."

Another highlight of the sale, Trevor and lyn Pullen of Montrose sold 110 No. 2 grey Brahman weaner steers, to average 650c/kg.

The draft weighed an average of 288kg, to return $1875/hd, which were purchased by Clive and Mary Alberts of Valli-Hi, South Yaamba.

Joel Dawson of Brian Dawson Auctions, Livestock and Property Marketing, said the small yarding was due to the heavy rainfall and wet conditions restricting transportation of stock.

"The rain has been tremendous, but this has reduced the overall yarding considerably," Mr Dawson said.

"However, the quality was up on the previous week.

"The weaner sale usually attracts a lot better quality and there's lines of cattle on offer which draws in a few different buyers, who come to buy those good lines of cattle.

"The buying gallery was still very strong, with a few new buyers present on the day.

"Overall, the weaner market was a lot stronger, with some good lines of weaner heifers met with really strong competition."

Looking ahead, Mr Dawson said he was confident the strong market trends would continue at future sales.

Due to more widespread rainfall predicted later this week, agents have had to cancel this Wednesday's (July 6) CQLX Prime and Store Sale.