8 November 2010

11 minute read

Oceania

WA weekly cattle summary

Conditions in the far north of the state reman reasonable with a solid start to the wet season, while conditions throughout much of the Pilbarra, Murchison and Gascoyne regions remaining extremely dry with drought conditions still in place. A mixed week of weather was experienced in the southern parts where temperatures started the week at high levels and were then followed by very limited rainfall and cooler temperatures.

Feed conditions remain tight with reports of hay production, which has now all but finished remaining well below average. A similar situation also exists in the grain harvest and this will impact the feeder sector throughout for the foreseeable future. The lack of water and feed continues to stimulate very strong turnoff of cattle as producers endeavour to maximise their diminished carrying capacity. Subsequently all markets reported by MLA’s NLRS had very strong and unseasonably large numbers penned in their sales.

Muchea had reasonable numbers of plain conditioned pastoral cattle included in that yarding, while the over whelming numbers were dominated by locally bred drafts. The numbers of prime grass finished trade and heavy weight steers and heifers remained in reasonably limited numbers, particularly heavy weight cattle. The volumes of new season vealers and calves were again low as producers offload earlier and at lighter than usual weights.

The turnoff of locally bred cows remained very high and many are now wondering about the numbers of these that will be available into the early parts of the New Year.

The larger supplies of vealers remained predominately of light and medium weights with heavy weight drafts remaining hard to find. The release several weeks ago of a strong live export price for both steer and heifer vealers continues to stimulate very active feeder and restocker demand from local areas and this has to some extent curtailed the aggressive demand from eastern states buyers which have been so prevalent this season. Discussions continue between the processing and feeder sectors regarding forward contracts, but the very early turnoff and lack of back grounding feed must be a concern to both sectors at this stage. Values for the majority of vealer classes were again quoted at dearer levels, despite the volumes currently on the market. There continued to e a good demand from the local trade for prime yearling trade weight steers and heifers.

The limited numbers of heavy weight steers and bullocks remained well supported by processors also. The large numbers of heavy weight cows enjoyed strong competition earlier in the week between local and eastern states processors and this created dearer values. Competition had levelled out by the end of the week with averages only slightly dearer.

SA weekly cattle summary

Numbers fell slightly at Naracoorte’s cow and bull sale last Friday. However this only led to strong competition from both SA and Victorian processor buyers as cow prices rose, with a number of sales lifting above the 300¢/kg cwt mark again.

The SA LE yarding fell, after last week’s lower priced sale in mixed quality runs of mainly yearlings that sold erratically, albeit with the heavy steers and most heifers recouping much of the previous week’s lost ground. Feeder orders were also active on a mixture of vealer and yearling steers, and also good quality yearling heifers. Only small numbers of grown steers, grown heifers, manufacturing steers and cows were offered for sale by liveweight, however there was large draft of cows sold on a $/head basis where restockers generally outbid processors.

Naracoorte’s young cattle and grown steer numbers were unchanged, selling to strong SA and Victorian trade, supermarket and processor competition as word filtered through that some processors were short on kill numbers due the Melbourne Cup and some more heavy rainfall in parts of Victoria. Feeder and restocker orders were also active and pushed prices up to 213¢/kg lwt for lightweight Angus vealer steers.

Mt. Gambier had a larger yarding, which led to this sale splitting with export categories now on Monday’s. While the sale started off at slightly lower levels, by the finish most categories were unchanged to slightly dearer with cows attracting the strongest competition from the processors.

There were fluctuating trends, although most producers should have been quite satisfied with their returns. Vealer steers to the trade on a mixture of mainly C and B muscled light and medium weights sold from 182¢ to 225¢ at rates generally 2¢ to 7¢/kg cheaper, with only isolated sales dearer. Feeder and restocker orders secured C and B muscled steers from 191¢ to 216¢/kg at fluctuating prices. Vealer heifers were generally unchanged as the majority sold to the trade between 184¢ and 220¢/kg with lightweights benefitting most. Yearling steer C3 and isolated B muscled sales ranged mainly between 175¢ and 207¢ to be 5¢ to11¢/kg dearer. Yearling heifer C3 and C4 sales were 4¢ to 10¢ dearer as most sold from 165¢ to 200¢/kg.

Grown steer C3 and C4 medium and heavyweights were 3¢ to 4¢ dearer on the larger numbers offered, as most sold from 168¢ to 188¢ and mainly 300¢ to 335¢/kg cwt. Despite the A$ near parity it did not stop cow prices from rising by 3¢ to 10¢, with beef lines generally making 143¢ to 166¢/kg and mostly 285¢ to 315¢/kg cwt. Dairy D2 and D3 sales were dearer selling between 133¢ and 154¢/kg.

VIC weekly cattle summary

The public holiday on Tuesday affected the supply of cattle. Pakenham’s Tuesday was the only sale not to occur, but Pakenham young cattle sale on Monday, and the remainder of sales conducted on Tuesday were affected. Overall there was 30% fewer cattle offered at MLA’s NLRS reported markets.

The only sure bet for the week was an increase in prices with supply. Even though Melbourne based abattoirs were closed for just one day, demand was strong right from the outset, with prices generally ranging from unchanged to 8¢/kg dearer. Part of this was due to a lot of very good quality cattle being offered, while the 4, 5 and 6 score lines that were all but rejected a couple of weeks ago also sold too much dearer trends.

The EYCI climbed 2.25¢ week on week, to be 363.50¢/kg at the completion of Thursdays markets. It will be interesting to see the outcome when sales return to normal the next week. Competition was solid at most sales, although at Camperdown and Colac a regular export processor did not make any purchases. On the other hand, local wholesalers were heading to the south east of South Australia to secure supply.

As the A$ reached parity again US during the course of the week this made no difference to demand with prices for grown steers, bullocks and cows all selling to dearer levels. The only real discrepancy between the markets, were bull prices with at least a 20¢/kg difference recorded for top quality heavy muscled bulls.

A feature of the week was the demand for calves and lightweight vealers. A high price for the year of 280¢/kg was paid for a 120kg calf, while very good quality B muscle vealers made from 190¢ to 245¢/kg. There was very strong competition for the vealers suiting the local butcher trade, as the general run of C muscle vealers made from 170¢ to 210¢ to average almost 198¢/kg. There were few vealers offered, but the solid supply of good quality yearlings mostly made from 170¢ to 205¢ with some supplementary fed lines reaching 228¢/kg.

Despite the high value of the A$, grown steer and bullock prices lifted 2¢ to 3¢ with C muscle grades making between 162¢ and 184¢ as isolated sales of top quality medium weight steers made to 200¢/kg.

Cows continued to sell well with better quality beef cows making from 145¢ to 169¢/kg. A number of good quality dairy cows which sold between 142¢ and 158¢/kg. Coupled with plain condition cows which ranged from 75¢ to 145¢, the carcass weight price average was estimated at 298¢/kg. Very good quality A and B muscle bulls made between 148¢ and 178¢/kg.

NSW weekly cattle summary

The supply of cattle at MLA’s NLRS reported physical markets increased 6% compared to last week but numbers were 18% below the corresponding week last year. Yarding trends varied with Tamworth increasing around three times last weeks levels as the supply area dried out. Casino and Gunnedah also had significant improvements in supply. Wagga and Inverell recorded the largest falls in supply, down 22% and 37% respectively.

Yearlings were the largest category yarded with the steers accounting for 22% of the states yarding and heifers making up around 18%. There was a good supply of grown steers, they made up 12% of the states total and cow numbers contributed around 14%.

Quality has on the most part been very good with the excellent season meaning plenty of cattle have been presented in forward to finished condition, showing plenty of weight. Well bred young cattle suitable for feeders and restockers were well supplied along with good numbers of trade cattle. Gunnedah, Tamworth and Dubbo all had a good supply of well finished heavyweight grown steers and bullocks.

Competition was solid at most markets although Tamworth early in the week was cheaper across most grades as a result of the large increase in supply. Restockers demand remains strong purchasing 34% of yearling steers while feeders secured 51%, most of them heavyweights at slightly cheaper average prices. Processors bought 51% of the yearling heifers on offer, the medium and heavyweight C3’s sold around firm on last weeks rates as the lightweight C2’s gained 4¢/kg.

Calves to the trade sold to 249¢ and averaged 235¢ as restocker paid between 210¢ and 243¢/kg. Lightweight vealer steers returning to the paddock reached 224¢ an averaged 216¢ as those to slaughter mostly sold around 220¢/kg. Medium vealer heifers eased 2¢ to average 216¢ as the few heavyweights averaged 197¢/kg. Lightweight yearling steers to restockers gained 6¢ to 219¢ as feeder buyers paid around 5¢ less at 202¢/kg. Medium yearling steers to feeders were steady around 198¢ as restocker prices averaged 200¢/kg. Heavyweight feeder yearlings averaged 187¢ as those to process were steady on 186¢/kg. Lightweight yearling heifers to restock averaged 187¢ with trade buyers paying to 218¢ with most sales closer to 199¢/kg. Medium weight yearling heifers to slaughter reached 219¢ and averaged 2¢ dearer at 188¢ with heavyweights around 177¢/kg.

Medium weight grown steers to feed eased 3¢ to 5¢ averaging 175¢/kg. Heavyweights reached 188¢ and held firm on 177¢/kg. Bullocks were steady around 176¢/kg. Medium weight cows to restockers averaged 136¢, while processor rates were steady on last week, averaging between 132¢ and 139¢/kg depending on fat scores. Heavyweight D3 cows were unchanged at 144¢ and the D4’s eased marginally to 147¢/kg.

QLD weekly cattle summary

With the spell of fine weather allowing harvest to commence in places, this resulted in a drop in supply of 17% at physical markets covered by MLA’s NLRS. Overall quality was generally good with a fair representation of most categories, and the majority of stock at the Roma store sale were drawn from the south-west corner of the state. Numbers were also slightly back at Morton with 22% of the total yarding being calves sold by open auction.

A combination of the drop in supply and renewed buyer activity tended to turn values around. Restocker and feeder descriptions continued to meet very strong buyer competition, and with some additional support from interstate operators lightweight lines to slaughter improved by 5¢/kg. The general run of bullocks struggled at times as processors start to show the impact of the A$, however as demand outstripped supply prices experienced a small improvement at some selling centres.

Cow values to export slaughter also followed a similar trend and overall managed to gain 2¢/kg after very strong prices last week. With the return of good seasonal conditions in most parts of the state following a large run of dry years, cow-calf producers have been very active in the cow portion at most markets. Plain condition cows in general are being keenly sought after. However young PTIC lines attracted very strong bidding as producers struggle to rebuild their herds as numbers were allowed to run down due to the high maintenance costs during the dry years.

A small number of calves returned to the paddock at 217¢ with a few to 237.2¢ while trade descriptions mostly sold around 197¢/kg. Vealer steers sold around 192¢ with some to 225.2¢/kg. Vealer heifers to processors and butchers averaged 12¢ better at 202¢ with a few heavy grades to local butchers reaching 226.2¢/kg. Once again a large selection of lightweight yearling steers returned to the paddock at 214¢ with a few pens reaching 239.2¢/kg. Medium and heavy weight lines to feed averaged 193¢ and 185¢/kg respectively. Lightweight yearling heifers to local and southern processors sold to a market 5¢ dearer at 198¢ with the occasional sale to 219.2¢, while feeder and restocker lines mostly sold in the 180¢/kg range.

Medium weight grown steers to feed averaged 172¢ and sold to 189.2¢/kg. Heavy steers and bullocks to export slaughter across all markets experienced no change in value with both categories averaging 179¢ with the occasional supplementary fed grade reaching 191.2¢/kg. Cows to restockers generally sold around 145¢, with some PTIC lines reaching 178.2¢/kg. Medium weight 3 scores to processors averaged 136¢, and good heavy cows made to 165.2¢ with a large selection 2¢ dearer at153¢/kg.

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