ONCE again the Landmark Special Angus Weaner Sale held at the Mt Barker Regional Saleyards saw premium prices paid for the quality Angus steers and heifers on offer.
Now in its sixth year, the sale continues to attract buyers from throughout the State chasing the well-bred, quality genetics on offer in the Landmark yarding.
Prices at the sale are often above market values at the time, and this year was no exception with steers topping at $1266 and heifers at $1208.
It is a unique sale in that all cattle yarded are Angus and the majority of them weaned, so buyers purchased with confidence with the total offering of 1974 head grossing $2,156,135 and averaging $1092.
Steers and heifers on offer came from mostly Great Southern properties with many of the vendors featuring as top-price buyers at Angus bull sales in recent years, another indication of the quality of genetics on offer in the yarding.
Due to a tough winter in the Great Southern, weights were down slightly on last year but the offering stood out for its consistency and quality.
The top price line of steers was offered by Carmdam North, Mt Barker and bought by Harmony Operation.
The line of 18 steers was unweaned and weighed in at 436kg and sold for $1266 or 290c/kg.
Not far behind these was a line of 14 weaned steers that were offered by Jarrod and Sarah Carroll, Rayview Park, Albany and bought by Cullalla for $1265.
Weighing in at 398kg, these Coonamble, Koojan Hills and Diamond Tree blood steers equated to 318c/kg.
The Bairstow family, Arizona Farms, Lake Grace, had the largest offering of steers in the sale with close to 550 and these also featured in the higher prices.
The Arizona steers were all weaned and of mostly Coonamble Angus stud blood.
One pen from Arizona consisted of 16 steers that weighed in at 393kg and sold for $1258 at 320c/kg to Harmony Operation.
Another line of 15 that weighed in at 400kg made $1256 or 314c/kg and were also bought by Harmony.
A line of 14 Arizona steers sold to Cullalla for $1252 and at an average weight of 396kg, equating to 316c/kg.
Cullalla also paid $1250 or 320c/kg for a line of Arizona steers that weighed 391kg.
DJ & JE Bell, Redmond, offered a quality line of 13 steers that weighed in at 418kg and made $1253 at 300c/kg. These steers were bought by Harmony.
A line of 14 Rayview Park steers sold for $1249 also to Harmony.
These steers weighed in at 416kg and equated to 300c/kg.
Cullalla took a liking to another line of Rayview Park steers paying $1247 for a pen of 15 that averaged 392kg and made 318c/kg.
Johnson Bros offered a line of five unweaned steers that weighed in at 402kg and were bought by Harmony.
These steers made $1246 (310c/kg).
RA & MA Wright, Kojonup, offered a line of 16 Angus steers that were weaned and weighed in at 377kg. These steers sold for $1230 (326c/kg) to Cullalla.
The momentum of the sale didn’t slow down as the weights dropped off, with a line of 20 offered by Arizona Farms selling for $1195 to Pulfer & Nussbaum.
These steers weighed 348kg (348c/kg).
A line of 15 Rayview Park steers that weighed in at 335kg sold for $1180 to Pulfer & Nussbaum. These steers equated to 352c/kg.
A line of 11 steers offered by RJ & IS Bunn, Redmond, also made good money selling to Cullalla for $1175. These steers averaged 344kg (342c/kg).
A line of 20 steers offered by regular sale vendors MJ Blyth & Co, Manypeaks, sold for $1166 to Pulfer & Nussbaum.
These steers weighed in at 331kg and made 352c/kg.
Lighter steers made up to 360c/kg including a line of 16 offered by SA & SH Smith, Narrikup, selling for that amount to S & C Livestock.
These steers averaged 260kg and made $936.
Also selling at 360c/kg was a line of 16 from Silverstone Livestock, Narrikup, that weighed 232kg and made $836.
A line of 20 Arizona steers that averaged 310kg sold for $1108 (358c/kg) to volume buyer Pulfer & Nussbaum, while another line of 20 from the same home sold for $1166 to the same buyer.
These steers weighed in at 328kg and made 356c/kg.
A line of 20 steers offered by another sale regular, MI & DM Twentyman, Nanarup, sold for $1107 and was bought by Pulffer & Nussbaum. These steers weighed 315kg and made 352c/kg.
Another line of Blyth steers made $1151 when bought by Pulfer & Nussbaum. These steers weighed in at 329kg and made 350c/kg.
With 144 pens filled with cattle in the sale, only a small proportion of these were heifers, taking up 29 of those pens.
The top price here was $1209 paid for a line of nine heifers offered by Carmdam North and bought by FE Brockman Family Trust. These heifers weighed in at 414kg and made 292c/kg.
Another line of Carmdam North heifers sold for $1142, also to the Brockmans.
These heifers averaged 394kg and equated to 290c/kg.
A line of seven heifers offered by the BJ Panizza Family Trust, King River, sold for $1115 to Dundeal Holdings, Narrikup. These heifers weighed 387kg and equated to 288c/kg.
A line of six heifers offered by L,B & J Parke, Lake Muir, sold for $1073 to GC & ER Frusher, Narrikup. These heifers weighed in at 383kg and equated to 280c/kg.
Other heifers to sell well included another line from BJ Panizza that went for $1040, also to Dundeal Holdings. The 344kg heifers equated to 302c/kg.
A line of 10 from DJ & BE Bell, Redmond, made $1066 when bought by Landmark national livestock manager Leon Giglia. At 384kg these heifers made 278c/kg.