Lighter cattle were in short supply at Roma on Tuesday, with heavier, feeder weight cattle making up the majority of the yarding and contributing to the softening of prices in most areas.
The 6224 head yarding consisted of a large number of smaller, local runs, as some graziers in the Maranoa were looking to sell off a few head in order to keep up with the drier conditions.
Cattle were drawn mostly from the local area, with a number of lines offered from around Roma, Injune, Yuleba, St George and Dirranbandi, as well as out to Charleville and Augathella.
Steer prices fell across the light and midweight cattle, with some categories reducing by up 76c/kg, while the heavier feeder steers were slightly up on last week's sale.
Restocker steers up to 200kg made to 534.2c/kg, averaging 522.5c/kg, down 76.6c, while those weighing between 200 and 280kg fell by 44.8c, reaching a top price of 515.2c/kg and an average of 467.9c.kg.
Feeder steers in the 280 to 330kg category reached 476.2c/kg and averaged 453.7c/kg, down 4.5c, while those sold to restockers were down by 29c, averaging 445.2c/kg and topping at 492.2c/kg.
Heavier feeder steers up to 400kg reduced by 15.6c/kg on last week, reaching a top of 430c/kg and an average of 392.6c/kg, and those sold to restockers topped at 433.2c/kg and averaged 401.9c/kg, down 22c.
Making up the bulk of the steer yarding, feeders weighing over 400kg improved by 19.7c/kg from last weight, making to 398.2c/kg and averaging 377.6c/kg.
Similar to the steers, heavier feeder heifers improved slightly from last week, as did lightweight yearling heifers, while midweight restockers and feeders fell significantly.
Heifers between 200 and 280kg sold to restockers were up by 33.8c/kg, making to 422.2c/kg and averaging 403.4c/kg, and feeder heifers under 330kg reached a top of 382.2c/kg and an average of 360c/kg, up by 42.5c.
Feeder heifers under 400kg were down by 19.3c/kg, averaging 339.3c/kg and topping at 396.2c/kg, while those sold to restockers reduced by 39.2c/kg, averaging 331.1c/kg and reaching a top of 364.2c/kg.
Heavier feeder heifers over 400kg averaged 353.4c/kg and topped at 386.2c/g, improving by 2.2c/kg.
Vendor Lachy Jensen said they were looking to sell some steers to stay ahead of the dry, which had recently become more noticeable around their Injune country due to a lack of rain over summer.
There was some solid competition for the Jensen's 60 Simmental cross steers and 15 Angus cross steers, which sold for an average price of 386.42c/kg at an average weight of 453.73kg, with a return of $1753/head.
Mr Jensen said he was very happy with the result, given the current volatility in the market.
After the northern rainfall failed to make its way south, he said they had started supplementing with lick in the last fortnight and were hoping for a few inches of rain now to kick their leucaena and forage sorghum crops into gear.
MAA selling agent Duncan McLeod said that the lower prices were likely an indicator of buyers chasing lighter cattle, which were becoming more scarce at the moment.
"I thought the trend, overall, was a bit softer, but I also thought the quality was a bit plainer than last week," he said.
"We've got lots of people wanting to buy little cattle, but there's not a lot of little cattle turning up, theres plenty of cattle with plenty of weight and that is probably not a complete attraction for everyone at the moment.
"The cow job was probably off the pace a bit too. While the weather is staying the way it is, they're all getting enough cattle and the market just works on supply and demand."
Mr McLeod said that although things had dried out, he hadn't seen too many people offloading huge numbers yet due to cautious stock management post-drought.
"Probably the next movement will be whether people decide to pull calves off earlier and sell their weaner earlier or whether they keep going as long as they can," he said.
"What happens with the weaners will also affect the cow job down the track, with whether there's more or less cows being sold, and that will be weather related as well.
"I don't think most people are overstocked, and that always helps. Even though it's been a couple of good seasons, most people have still not gone completely over the top in restocking.
"There's plenty of areas in Queensland where the season is very good, it's just this end of the world that's not too flash."
