AWN Livestock kicked off its weaner selling season with a feature yarding of 407 local new season calves at the Muchea Livestock Centre on Monday.
The quality yarding of weaned and unweaned drafts from regular vendors at the venue consisted of 283 local steers and 124 local heifers, offered with Muchea's weekly trade cattle sale.
Like all WA selling centres this weaner selling season, buyers have been taking advantage of the dramatically weakened market and sourcing quality cattle at value and this sale was no exception.
Moderate lotfeeder enquiry competed with local retail butchers on heavier more forward condition steers while lighter steers attracted mild grazier and butcher competition.
Graziers and butchers were also active on the line-up of heifers across all weight ranges.
Heavier beef steers 360-430kg sold to 258 cents a kilogram to feeders, steers 300-350kg topped at 252c/kg to feeders and lighter steers less than 300kg sold to 246c/kg to graziers.
The heavier end of the heifer line-up (300-375kg) topped at 202c/kg to butchers and to 180c/kg to restockers and lighter heifers less than 300kg also sold to 202c/kg to butchers and 184c/kg to graziers.
Topping the local beef steer values was the heaviest line of 15 Angus steers tipping the scales at 432kg from the fully weaned sale draft of Venn Pastoral Company, Nirimba (west of Pinjarra) with Damian Barsby, Harvey Beef, bidding 236c/kg to set the $1019 top price.
Venn Pastoral's Charolais cross steers appealed to Jamie Davies, Kalgrains, Wannamal, who snapped up the first two pens paying $979 at 240c/kg for seven steers averaging 408kg and $931 at the sale's equal top liveweight price of 258c/kg for five weighing 361kg.
Mr Davies was prominent throughout and added a further 12 pens of steers weighing 300-370kg, clerked to his account.
Volume vendor, the Parkin family, Bolinda Vale Grazing, Keysbrook, presented a draft 90 Angus, Hereford cross and Charolais cross mixed sex calves with their steer portion topping at $980 with Williams Meats bidding the equal top price of 258c/kg for four Charolais cross steers weighing 380kg.
Mardella graziers JH & JM Bates & Son's weaned Angus draft topped at 246c/kg liveweight for steers with Leno Vigolo, Nutrien Livestock, collecting 12 steers averaging 296kg to cost $727.
Daniel Johns, AWN Livestock, secured several pens of steers for a grazier order bidding to 244c/kg for eight Angus steers weighing 273kg from the paddocks of Rima Poultry Trust, Nowergup.
Other noteworthy buyers of steers included Greg Jones, who collected nine pens for a south metro retail butcher order and seven pens for two grazier accounts, while Michael Borrello, Borrello Beef, Gingin, filled a northern suburbs retail order with six steers.
Michael Princi, Princi The Butcher, North Perth, made an immediate impact when the sale swung onto the heifer line-up and took a liking to the beautifully soft-muscled Venn Pastoral Charolais cross heifers.
He first paid the sale's 202c/kg equal top price for seven Charolais cross heifers averaging 368kg to cost $743, then the $748 top per head price at 200c/kg for a 374kg heifer and 202c/kg again for five heifers averaging 355kg.
Mr Princi later added eight Angus heifers weighing 286kg from Rima Poultry Trust's draft again bidding to the equal top price of 202c/kg to cost $577.
Mr Jones sourced seven pens of heifers for two South Coast grazier orders, bidding to 184c/kg for six Blonde d'Aquitaine cross heifers averaging 291kg offered by SB Mitchell, Oldbury.
Mr Vigolo secured an outstanding draft of 12 Angus heifers weighing 371kg at value for 180c/kg offered by the Maasdorp family, P2P Pastoral and Maas Dorper Lamb, West Pinjarra and Pindabunna station, Paynes Find, with the heifers likely heading to Toodyay for breeding duties.
The Meat Machine, Maddington, was another retail butcher buyer of heifer numbers with seven pens knocked down to its account.
WHAT THE AGENT SAID
AWN Livestock WA cattle manager Phil Petricevich said it was another outstanding line-up of young cattle from many of our regular vendors who should be congratulated for their breeding and presentation.
He said the market was sobering, but upon reflection he was pleased with the result, particularly the heifers.
"While prices are currently disappointing for producers, I think the sale exceeded most people's expectations given where the market has plunged to in recent weeks," Mr Petricevich said.
"Feeder steers regularly sold from 230-258c/kg.
"Light heifers have been hit really hard at sales recently but I was wrapped with the heifer prices consistently in the 170-202c/kg bracket which was 30c/kg up on sales late last week."
