Combined agents, Nutrien Livestock and Elders, penned a full capacity yarding of 1398 weaners at the weekly weaner cattle sale at Boyanup last week.
Nutrien Livestock's section was billed as the Wheatbelt Weaner sale, with the majority of the calves trucked from Williams/Boddington through to Karlgarin/Hyden.
Competition was mostly from regular bidders at recent weaner sales with a stronger presence from AuctionsPlus which secured a total of 30 different lines.
Sale Summary
Weaner steers: 238-310c/kg ($595-$1179)
Weaner heifers: 176-252c/kg ($410-$963)
Both steers and heifers continued the upward climb, with steers topping at $1179 and 310c/kg, up by 16c/kg over the previous sale.
Heifers sold to $963 and 252c/kg, lifting by $67 in Elders and a massive $217 in Nutrien Livestock's section.
The telling lift was the overall price of both steers and heifers of the combined agents up by $55 for cattle which were back about 14kg in average weight from the previous sale.
Richard Pollock, Nutrien Livestock, Waroona, broke all past records when he purchased a total of 59 different pens for his vast number of clients.
Graham Brown, Brown's Cattle Consulting and AuctionsPlus both put together 30 lines.
Nutrien Livestock
Nutrien Livestock sold first and started with a few pens of South West calves, resulting in the first pen of 10 Limousin cross steers weighing 420kg topping at $1142 when Mr Brown bid to 272c/kg, with these heading to Princess Royal Feedlot in South Australia.
Sold by Devlin's Run, the next three pens were also from this vendor with two lines gong to Rodney Galati, Galati Family Trust (GFT), Brunswick, for $972 and $912, while Jock Embry, Nutrien Livestock, Busselton/Margaret River, took the final pen for $839 and 270c/kg.
The sale moved on to the many lines of Hereford cross steers from Terrica Valley, Karlgarin, with Mr Pollock winning a great battle with AuctionsPlus to secure all 22 pens.
The first pen of 11 weighing 408kg cost $1085 at 266c/kg before the next 11 calves of 414kg sold for $1102 and 266c/kg.
Several pens into the Terrica Valley calves saw 10 weighing 380kg make $1010 at 266c/kg.
The top of 290c/kg in Nutrien Livestock's section was paid by Mr Pollock for the Terrica Valley calves in the 21st pen with nine weighing 230kg selling at 290c/kg.
A pen of 11 Simmental cross weighing 345kg from Gillett Brothers, Williams, sold at 262c/kg and $905 with the next six from Westbourne Holdings weighing 385kg making $985 and 256c/kg.
Six steers sold by RJ Logie, Williams, sold at 242c/kg to cost $857 which were all bought by Mr Brown for South Australia.
AuctionsPlus started their day with nine of the RJ Logie calves weighing 291kg, bidding to 256c/kg and $746.
Abban Farms, Donnybrook, sold Murray Grey steers weighing 353kg for $926 when bought at 262c/kg for South Australia.
A pen of three Angus steers weighing 455kg from Maroondah Farms, Yealering, cost Mr Pollock, $1101 and 242c/kg.
Westbourne Holdings then sold three pens of Angus steers, with the 14 409kg steers making up to $1106 at 270c/kg when bought for South Australia.
Another spike in values was when five steers from TV & GP Salmeri, Boddington, cost Mr Brown $1026 at 276c/kg.
Angus steers weighing 360kg returned $1010 for Duralyn Grazing Co when Mr Pollock bid to 280c/kg for the 12 weighing 360kg.
Devlin's Run scored the top double with the first pen of heifers sold consisting of 11 Limousin cross weighing 368kg that sold to Harris Beef Enterprises, Dardanup, for $927 and 252c/kg.
GFT secured two pens while AuctionsPlus bought one of the remaining Devlin's Run heifers for up to $763.
Mr Pollock snapped up the first eight pens of Terrica Valley's Hereford cross heifers to a top of $813, while AuctionsPlus won the battle on the last two lightweight pens weighing 210kg at 230c/kg.
Maroondah Farms' heifers were up with the best when they sold two pens of heifers to Mr Pollock for $967 and $911 at 212c/kg and 208c/kg respectively.
Elders
The Elders section may have been fewer in number but not in quality with a top of $1179 paid for three steers of 450kg from RH & LM Rose & Son, Manjimup, going to Harvey Beef at 262c/kg.
Not far off were 10 steers sold by K & AL Payne, Capel, making $1170 when the 418kg Angus were added to the load headed for South Australia selling at 280c/kg.
The next pen of Payne's Angus also sold for 280c/kg to return $1069 with Princess Royal then adding a pen of 10 from Darwonga Investments at $1031 and 270c/kg.
Darwonga Investments later took the top price of 310c/kg when Alex Roberts, Elders, Boyanup, paid $1052 for 12 weighing 339kg.
The next 11 Darwonga steers went on the same truck when Mr Roberts bid to 280c/kg and $887.
Red Angus steers weighing 452kg were sold for $1131 when the four steers from Biljedup Pty Ltd, Busselton, were among the lighter weight steers bought by Mr Brown at 250c/kg.
Simmental steers from RP Gartrell and Limousin steers sold by RG Procopio joined those at $936 and $1010 respectively.
Mr Galati paid $948 at 264c/kg for Procopio steers later selecting 11 Murray Grey steers weighing 375kg from Tandar Pty Ltd that sold for $967 and 258c/kg, keeping values strong until the finish of the steers.
A line of eight Procopio Limousin cross heifers made the top in the Elders section when Alex Tunstill, Elders, Capel, bid to 240c/kg, paying $963 for the 401kg females.
Mr Tunstill then bid to $860 for another line of nine of these.
Angus heifers sold account Horn and Rogers, Manjimup, saw eight weighing 410kg go to WillowBank, Benger, for $845 while Harvey Beef took the next eight from this vendor at $716 and 210c/kg.
AuctionsPlus, buying a total of 15 pens for a Mt Compass, South Australia buyer, was strong on the lighter weight cattle, picking up 10 pens in the final run including all the lines sold by Sydney Wheatley & Son that topped at $616 and 220c/kg.
What the agent said
Livestock auctioneer and Capel agent Chris Waddingham said it was a full quality yarding with the market strong throughout the offering.
"Nutrien Livestock's Wheatbelt feature sale saw the majority of its cattle come from Williams through to Hyden and the quality was outstanding, particularly given the time of year," Mr Waddingham said.
"For the first time this weaner selling season, Angus and cattle of other European and British breeds realised similar values.
"In Nutrien Livestock's yarding, mediumweight steers sold to a top of 286c/kg and pen of Limousin cross heifers topped the female market at 252c/kg."
