Excellent prices at Leongatha Store Sale

IMPRESSIVE steer prices across the board made for an exciting Leongatha Store Sale for sellers on Thursday.

Sentinel-Times saw auctioneers Brian McCormack (Nutrien SGL), Jarrod Bennetts (Everitt Seeley & Bennetts), Jimmy Kyle (SEJ) and Simon Henderson (Phelan & Henderson & Co) all achieving strong results.

Mr Bennetts sold a pen of 11 Angus steers weighed at 605 kilos for $4.85 a kilo at $2,940 a head to Nutrien SGL, Bass Valley Pastoral of Woodleigh the vendor.

He achieved $4.94 a kilo on a pen of 10 Angus steers from S Jacques, also in Woodleigh, weighing 526 kilos on average and being knocked down for $2,600 a head to commission buyer Campbell Ross.

Nutrien’s Mr McCormack sold a pen of 11 Angus steers averaging 331 kilos from J&S Kelly of Korumburra for $1,760 a head to ESB, a return of $5.31 per kilo.

Mr Kyle made $4.60 a kilo on a pen of 11 Angus steers with plenty of weight, tipping the scales at 690 kilos on average, those animals selling to Mr Ross for $3,180 a head, the vendors being JW Moore and KLN McRae of Leongatha.

A slightly lighter pen of six Angus steers from the same vendor, weighed at 644 kilos, achieved $4.65 per kilo at $3,000 per head, while 15 black steers from Mooney View in Ruby, averaging 563 kilos, managed $4.92 a kilo at $2,770, going to Nutrien.

It wasn’t only black steers performing strongly.

Mr Henderson sold a pen of 20 Hereford steers from Stuart Investments for $5.31 a kilo at $1750 apiece, averaging 329 kilos, another pen of 20 of Tony Stuart’s Herefords averaging 384 kilos going for $2,000 each at $5.20 a kilo.

Like the other livestock agents in action, Mr Henderson also had plenty of appealing Angus cattle to sell, a run of pens from KD Opray in Hedley among the highlights.

They made up to $5.16 a kilo, when 15 steers averaging 463 kilos went for $2,390 a head.

Another Opray pen of 14 steers made $5.11 per kilo on animals weighing slightly less at an average 450 kilos, those achieving $2,300 each.

Sentinel-Times saw six pens of Opray steers sell, all achieving strong prices with many of those animals snapped up by Mr Ross.

In total, 98 Opray steers sold, averaging 446 kilos and $2,214 a head at $4.96 per kilo.

While in much smaller numbers, heifers from Opray also performed strongly.

A total of 27 Black Baldy and Angus heifers from that vendor averaged $2,076 and 442 kilos at $4.69 per kilo.

Scott Bentley of Poowong was one of the happy vendors, achieving healthy prices for the couple of pens of Angus steers Mr Henderson sold for him.

A pen of 15 weighed at 390 kilos made $4.82 a kilo, selling for $1,880 a head, while 13 averaging 312 kilos achieved $4.58 a kilo, going for $1,430 apiece.

Mr Bentley’s heifers also achieved excellent prices.

A pen of 17 averaging 277 kilos went for $1,300 a head at $4.68 per kilo.

“It’ll give me a little bit more room at home,” Mr Bentley said after selling the steers, looking forward to using that extra paddock space to grow more fodder that will feed this year’s calves after they are weaned soon.

Having had 24mm of rain in recent days and 12mm the week before gives him confidence the grass will take off well, with warm weather continuing and good soil temperatures.

“You can already see a green tinge,” Mr Bentley said, noting that while the recent rain has been good for grass growth, it has been insufficient to get any runoff into dams.

He runs 120 breeders, all Angus cows, predominantly using Artificial Insemination, but also having his own bulls to avoid the need for a costly second round of AI.

His steers sold on Thursday featured Millah Murrah Rembrandt blood.

He said using such high-quality bulls is key to improving genetics.

“Improving genetics, you get more eye muscle and you get more beef, so they put on a few more kilos than your normal run of the mill,” Mr Bentley explained.

He cell grazes, an intensive rotational system, moving his cattle regularly and ensuring they always have new pasture and pasture health is maintained.

Mr Bentley mentioned the help he receives from livestock agent Jake Anthony of Phelan & Henderson & Co, Mr Anthony speaking about what goes into preparing cattle and presenting them for sale.

He appraises the cattle and offers advice on the optimal weight to sell them at based on the current market, including monitoring the international market.

Effective drafting into suitable lines is an important aspect of presenting the animals for sale, aiming for consistency.

Patrick Bloomer was another happy vendor at Thursday’s Store Sale, SEJ’s Mr Kyle selling 32 of his Angus steers that averaged 495 kilos for $2,420 each, or $4.88 a kilo.

He bought the steers out of Naracoorte in South Australia about 16 months ago, usually aiming to purchase cattle weighing in the 200 to 250 kilo bracket and get them to feeder weight.

Mr Bloomer generally likes to buy and sell on the same market.

While he recently bought some cattle privately, he hadn’t succeeded in acquiring any at the Store Sale when he spoke to Sentinel-Times, saying he had a crack but the prices went too high.