Mt Isa's Lawnhill Riversleigh Pastoral Holding Co offload 200 Brahman steers into dearer Emerald cattle market

Matt Pearce of GDL, Emerald, said wet conditions reduced the local offering, meaning graziers in the lower Gulf of Carpentaria in far north west Queensland, had the buying panel mostly to themselves.

"This week's Emerald cattle market was definitely a lot stronger than previous weeks," Mr Pearce said.

"Rain throughout the district has been received which resulted in only three lines of cattle for the sale on Thursday.

"Across most categories, cattle were 20 to 30 cents dearer.

"A few local restockers capitalised on this rain, and if it does get any dearer, they'll be able to offload their new lines of cattle when it suits them."

Among the northern draft was a line of 230 Lawn Hill Riversleigh Pastoral Holding Co, Brahman cattle which peaked at 294c/kg, for a run of feeder steers weighing 322kg, which returned $954 per head.

Lawnn Hill Riversleigh Pastoral also had a good result for its 30-head run of 750kg Brahman bullocks that hit 184c/kg for the top pen, making a return of $1381/hd.

They also sold mickey bulls for 240c/kg, weighing 344kg, to return $827/hd.

Mr Pearce said the truck trip down from Mt Isa over the weekend was worth it for the vendors.

"Emerald was the ideal market for these guys as Charles Towers wasn't this week," he said.

"The prices probably exceeded my expectations and they're probably 10 cents better than I thought."

In other categories, Mr Pearce said bullocks sold in a range from 250 to 268c/kg, while a limited yarding of medium weight cows made to 235c/kg.

Looking ahead, Mr Pearce was optimistic the recent rain would create a surge in confidence in the market.

"I think the market will continue to climb leading up to Christmas," he said.

"Next week's market and yarding size is all dependent on what this rain will do.

"If we have a few dry periods, producers might be able to bring some cattle in but we really do need to have a decent yarding for us to be able to get the maximum money for our clients."