Stock numbers a key factor for spring outlook

LAST week agents yarded 1,217 cattle at the Powranna monthly store sale which are good numbers for this time of the year.

The quality was not as good as the July sale and not as much weight.

The market was pretty similar in cents per kilo terms being either side of the July results with all cattle staying in the state.

Heavy yearling steers (400 + kg) made $2,060 to $2,500 (av. 550c), medium (330-400 kg) $1,780 to $2,180 (550c) and smaller $960 to $1,800 (560c).

Medium weight weaner steers (280-330 kg) made $1,500 to $1,800 (565c), light (200-280 kg) $1,100 to 41,700 (580c) and very small $1,100 to $1,180 (650c).

Medium weight heifer weaners made $1,420 to $1,500 (490c), light $1,020 to $1,380 (525c) and very small $740 to $1,100 (580c).

The best yearling heifers made $1,640 to $2,040 while lighter heifers made $1,260 to $1,660/head. A pretty good result for all concerned I would have thought. The next sale is on September 10.

It will be interesting to see what happens in Victoria this week with about 20,000 store cattle to be sold at Mortlake, Ballarat, Wangaratta and Leongatha over two days, it will certainly test the market although much of Victoria and Southern NSW have had some very good rain over the last fortnight or so.

While on saleyards, it was interesting to see the throughput figures for Powranna for the last financial year (2025-26) which show 43,150 cattle being sold and 132,034 sheep and lambs.

The cattle numbers include the weekly sale plus monthly store sales and the autumn weaner sales while the sheep numbers include the Oatlands store sales that are also run by TLX.

Market wise, everything is ticking along pretty well with most prices holding recent quotes although there is a definite push to try and get lamb and mutton prices cheaper and although this has happened in some yards it has then reversed in some other yards.

The spring will be interesting with the numbers coming to the market a key factor.

Strong bids on yearlings

ANOTHER small yarding of cattle at Powranna on Tuesday with a better line-up of trade yearlings which sold to strong butcher and restocker competition.

Yearling steers made 466c to 510c and heifers 454c to 500c while the good quality grown steers and bullocks made 432c to 454c and topped at $3,326/head. There were very few cows (the smallest number for many months) and the best topped at 396c with restockers buying the leaner types for 344c to 362c/kg liveweight.

THERE were 966 lambs penned (220 more) with another mixed quality line-up.

The market was fully firm to slightly dearer for prime lambs while there wasn’t as much competition on the light store lambs. Processors paid $252 to $326 for trade weights, $200 to $208 for light trade and $150 to $160 for light lambs. Restockers bought light trade for $160 to $212, light $120 to $186 and very small $66 to $88/head.

There was another small number of 316 mutton (216 more) and this market was strong with extra heavy making $258 to $290, heavy $170 to $280 and medium $136 to $212/head.