Armidale Angus steers top Tamworth sale as buyers seek quality

There were an extra 1200 head offered compared to the last sale.

Young cattle provided the bulk, plus large numbers of cows with calves, as well as pregnancy-tested-in-calf cows and heifers. Quality was mixed.

Vendors supplied cattle from Manilla, Barraba, Boggabri, Armidale and Timor in the Hunter Valley.

Competition was especially strong from Bathurst for the weaner steers and Coonamble for the heifers.

Other support came from from Moree, Guyra, Walcha and processors also attended.

Plainer cattle were more challenging to sell, but the market firmed up with the sale of better-quality cattle.

Weaner heifers were mainly cheaper.

Weaner steers less than 200kg topped at $590, while those from 200kg to 280kg mostly attracted bids from $550 to $1080.

The 280kg to 330kg weaner steers ranged from $810 to $1135.

Weaner heifers tipping the scales at less than 200kg sold between $180 and $510, while the 200kg to 280kg lines sold for $300 to $775.

Weaner heifers weighing between 280kg and 330kg sold for $680 to $910.

Yearling steers weighing up to 330kg ranged from $400 to $1050 and those from 330kg to 400kg made $690 to $11280.

Yearling heifers hit $1050 for only a few pens offered.

PTIC heifers sold from $840 to $1260 and PTIC cows $810 to $1140 for well-bred Angus females.

Cows with calves less than two months ranged from $1210 to $1925 a unit, while cows with two- to four-month-old calves sold from $980 to $2080.

The limited number of PTIC cows with older calves topped at $1860.

However, two stock agents with long careers in the industry called on producers to seize the moment and take advantage of a benevolent season with some outstanding oat crops being grown.

Purtle Plevey Agencies director Patrick Purtle, Manilla, said it is a crucial time to act and take advantage of the current conditions.

"It's the first time in living memory where you are able to buy a store animal a whole lot cheaper than what you've been able to sell a heavy feeder for," Mr Purtle said.

"A lot of these little lightweight cattle only make 320 cents a kilogram to 340c/kg when you can sell them for 400c/kg.

"In the heifer space, you can buy them for 250c/kg and sell them for 350c/g once you've got some weight on them."

Mr Purtle said trading conditions are very good, "if you're prepared to be in it".

"The whole show is suffering from a lack of confidence at the moment," he said.

"There's enormous feed in the west, and there's been some great rain around here.

"It's taking people a long time to get over that bust they had late last year. It's left a few scars, mentally and financially.

"They will wake up to the dynamics that exist.

"Once we get out of this middle of the winter period, and they can see the feed start to grow, they will gain some momentum, and things will start to fire a bit."

Leading the mature cattle was a dispersal of a herd of Angus owned by David and Rose Gee, Wimborne, Upper Manilla, with drafts of cows and calves plus PTIC cows and heifers.

Cows on their first calf sold for $1110 to $1460, and mature cows with calves made $2080. The same vendor's pregnancy-tested-in-calf (PTIC) cows sold for $840 to $1020, and the heifers made $840.

Mr Gee, a former ABC Country Hour presenter, gave up the airways for livestock production in the early 1990s and recently sold their property to Merino and Shorthorn producers Peter and Louise Capel, also from Manilla, to make a move to Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

The Gees had the second pen of the day, 27 steers that sold for $1000, with another pen of 27 making $820.

A third pen of 16 Angus made $500.

The steers were ready for oats grazing, selling agent Patrick Purtle said, having just come off grass pastures.

A pen of the Gee's 2020-drop cows made $970, while 2018-19 drop cows made $1020. All were pregnancy-tested-in-calf to Heart and Bowen Angus bulls.

A pen of their 15 heifers made $660, while a run of 39 heifers sold for $705.

The first pen of the sale, six Angus and Angus-cross steers, offered by RJ Heagney, Armidale, sold for $1280, while another pen of five made $950.

Tom Peake, Strathavon, Currabubula, was another Angus producer who sold well at the sale. Four of a pen of six made $1250, with the remainder selling for $1000. Mr Peake also sold a pen of 10 steers for $1050 and another pen of 11 smaller steers for $930. He said he used Farrer and XL Angus bulls in his herd.

Twynam Investments, Wingelo Park, Marulan, had a large run of 250 Angus mixed-sex weaners, sired by Twynam Angus bulls. A pen of 12 heavier weaners made $950, while two pens of 25 steers made $800 and $700. Agent Scott Bremner said the weaners had been under 380 millimetres of rain in autumn and early winter, slowing their growth.

Twynam Investments' heifers topped at $700 for a pen of 14, while two pens of 19 and 20 sold for $630.

Another volume seller was Crichton Kyle Pty Ltd, Prestwick, Niangala, with a pen of 26 Angus steers making $980, a pen of 30 selling for $950 and a pen of 15 making $750.

Tuttawa, Dirranbandi, Queensland, sold a pen of 14 Angus for $1110, another pen of eight for $1135, and a further pen of 17 for $1030.

Terry Payne, Walcha, sold a pen of eight Angus steers for $1020 while another pen of seven made $820, while C Roberts, Manilla sold 14 Angus steers for $830.

Fairyknowe Farms, Tallangatta, Victoria, offered a line of 120 mixed-sex Angus weaners. Their best pen of 24 Angus steers made 1030, a pen of 12 made $890, and two of eight and 11 Angus cross steers made $810.

LJE Farming, Violet Downs, Narrabri, sold 10 Angus cows with 10 calves, aged three to six years, Booroomooka Kansas and Landfall Angus blood that made $2080. Another pen of LJE Farming PTIC Angus cows, aged four to six years, Booroomooka, Kansas and Landfall blood, made $1820.

Another herd dispersal was 200 Chan Abbey blood Red Angus cows, account HDTS Farms, Boggy Creek.

All 200 were PTIC to begin calving in July. They were priced between $890 for a pen of 28 and $1500 for a run of 70 cows.