Full yarding of quality store cattle

The Elders South West team is set to put together a yarding of close to 1800 head which will suit the requirements of all buyers.

The majority of the yarding will be made up of beef steers and heifers which will be sold liveweight and interfaced on AuctionsPlus, while there will also be a quality offering of dairy steers and first-cross heifers.

Elders, South West livestock manager Michael Carroll said once again there would be a full yarding of store cattle on offer in the sale.

"There will be more than 1100 beef steers and heifers being offered including the first draft from Alcoa Farmlands which will truck in more than 550 head of outstanding weaned mainly Angus steer and heifer weaners," Mr Carroll said.

"With recent rains showing the early beginnings of the grass growing season, the yarding of 500 dairy steers will be highly sought after.

"Rounding out the sale will be some select lines of first-cross heifers and then a handful of bulls."

The sale will kick off with the large beef steer and heifer offering which will feature a good mix of British and Euro animals and their crosses.

The largest vendor in the section will be Alcoa Farmlands, Pinjarra and Wagerup, with 290 Angus steers (350 to 400 kilograms) and 45 Murray Grey steers (340-400kg) plus 200 Angus heifers (20-280kg) and 25 Murray Grey heifers (250-280kg).

It will be the operation's first draft for the season from its winter calving program which will this year see it join about 4000 breeders.

The Alcoa Farmlands herd is based predominantly on Koojan Hills Angus and Melaleuca Murray Grey bloodlines, while Little Meadows and Gandy Angus bulls have been used in recent years.

Elders Waroona representative Wade Krawczyk said the offering of weaners from Alcoa Farmlands was exceptional and there would be something to suit all operations.

"The offering will provide a great opportunity to secure a straight line of steers or heifers that have proven performance, whether you're a backgrounder or a feedlot operator or simply looking for quality female replacements there is something for everyone," Mr Krawczyk said.

The May/June drop calves were yard weaned for seven days, with weaning occurring from December to February and since weaning they have been running on irrigated pastures and supplemented with hay and silage.

At weaning the calves received their second 7in1 vaccination along with Multimin, Vitamin A, D and E, Beachport Liquid Minerals Greencap, plus an Ivomec drench.

There will be two other sizeable lines of Angus steers on offer in the line-up and the first of these will come from P & F Giadresco, Gelorup, which will truck in 60 Angus weaner steers.

The 10-12-month-old steers from the operation are all ownerbred and based on mainly Monterey Angus bloodlines.

Elders, Margaret River agent Alec Williams said the line was the Giadresco's annual draft of steers and they wouldn't disappoint.

"They are an excellent line of steers and will weigh between 340-360kg," Mr Williams said.

The steers have been drenched and have received cobalt, copper and selenium bullets.

The other big line of Angus weaner steers in the sale will be offered by Bowie Beef, Bridgetown.

The operation has nominated 50 Angus steers which were bred from its large Angus breeding herd that is based mainly on Blackrock and Monterey Angus bloodlines.

The April/May-drop steers, which were weaned at the end of January, are expected to weigh between 320-340kg.

Since weaning the steers have been running on a summer crop and supplemented with silage and hay.

In terms of health treatments at weaning, they received Bovi-Shield, Beachport Liquid Minerals Greencap, Vitamin A, D and E, B12 and selenium, as well as an Eprinex pour-on drench.

In the beef heifer offering there will also be some bigger lines including 114 ownerbred Charolais-Angus cross heifers, which will be presented by Hayes Farms, S & JM Hayes, Cookernup and Capel.

The 10-12mo heifers are sired by Bardoo Charolais bulls and out of Angus cows.

Elders, Capel representative Rob Gibbings said they were very good quality heifers which would be ideal for feeding or grass fattening.

"It's their annual draft of heifers from their beef enterprise which are normally sold later in the year," Mr Gibbings said.

The line is expected to weigh 300-360kg.

Other bigger beef heifer lines will include 40 Limousins (10-12mo) from Balamara, Benger, which will weigh 360-380kg and 32 Angus (10-12mo) from Ludlow Grazing, Tutanup, weighing 260-280kg that are based on Monterey, Blackrock and Gandy Angus bloodlines.

In the dairy lines there will be a good run of Friesian steers ranging in age from three to 24 months and a quality line-up of first-cross steers and heifers ranging in age from 3-20 months.

The biggest vendor in the Friesian steer pens will be Hayes Farms, which will offer 90 black and white steers from its Cookernup dairy operation where it runs 400-450 dairy cows.

The 16-18mo steers are all ownerbred and Mr Gibbings said they were in good store condition.

"They are nicely presented steers and are ready to go out in the paddock and grow," he said.

Regular vendors Dudinalup Pastoral Co, Nannup, will also feature with older steers with its offering of 30 steers aged 22-24mo which were purchased in and grown out, while GA Lee, will present 30 steers aged 14-16mo.

In the poddy pens Hamner Springs, Capel, has nominated 60 steers (6-8mo) while West & Haggerty, Capel, will present 64 steers (3-6mo) and Negus Enterprises, Tutanup, will offer its monthly draft of 40 steers (4-6mo).

Along with offering Friesian steers, West & Haggerty will offer 16 Angus-Friesian steers aged 3-4mo.

The biggest vendor in the first-cross steers however will be J & C & R Drennan, Waterloo, with 29 Angus-Friesian steers.

The 14-16mo, ownerbred steers are sired by Blackrock Angus bulls.

Elders, Boyanup representative Alex Roberts said they were a very even line of steers in good store condition.

In the first-cross heifer pens there will be a couple of pens of Angus-Friesian heifers made up of eight heifers (12-14mo) from Rodwell Farms, Boyanup and 12 heifers (14-16mo) from Woody Pear Farm, however the feature of the run will be eight Speckle Park-Friesians aged 12-14mo from Rodwell Farms.

The Speckle Park heifers are AI-bred and Mr Roberts said the operation tried the Speckle Park genetics for something new and different.

"They chose it because they thought the Speckle Park's early maturity and shape would complement their Friesian cows," Mr Roberts said.

"They nice quiet heifers and look like one they could grow into impressive breeders."