Agents report a majority of calves sold in the range $3-$3.30/kg liveweight and that price level was maintained during the week as the yardings grew bigger.
Carrfields agent Rueben Wright says his home sale at Peria in the Far North was notable for a yarding of 2364 steers, bulls and heifers, half of which came from his company’s clients.
The top cut of autumn-born steers reached $1140 and the top of the spring-born calves was $1000.
A big offering of 300 Simmental bull calves weighing up to 320kg sold in the range of $950-$1080 at $3.20-$3.50/kg.
Wright says local buyers were supplemented by those who travelled up from Waikato, Gisborne and South Auckland and all pens were sold.
PGG Wrightson Northland livestock manager Bernie McGahan says bigger lines of well-bred and reared calves sold freely in the Peria and Kaikohe yards.
“Breeders are using top genetics and bulls and are bringing forward very good weaners for these sales,” McGahan said.
“In terms of demand, we are lacking the traditional numbers of buyers from further south but this summer has been so much better than last year, and the calves showed that.”
Kaikohe PGG Wrightson agent Vaughan Vujcich says 1580 calves were yarded and the top cut of traditional Simmental, Charolais and Angus steers, weighing 280-320kg, sold in the range $3.10-$3.25/kg.
The price range per head was $880-$1040.
The medium weights made the same price per kilogram and were worth $760-$900.
Lighter calves at 230-250kg were harder to sell and did not make any improvement on the liveweight price range $3-$3.20/kg.
Earlier in the week, autumn-born Charolais-cross steers topped the Kauri weaner steer fair when the second pen fetched $1115 for 13 and the first pen $1065 for seven.
A third pen of 14, with the same breeding from Titoki Downs, made $830.
In the 500-cattle yarding, containing a majority of spring-born steers, the top price was $940 for 14 whitefaces, followed by $920 for 13 Angus.
The bigger lots of more sought-after weaned calves with traditional breeding sold in the range $750-$900, while the exotics were a level down in price.
Vendor A. Baker put up several pens of Maine Anjou steers and they sold in the range of $650-$750.
Simmental-cross steers made $820 for a pen of six and Charolais-cross weaners born in the spring were worth $790 to $810.
Talk along the rails was about the losses of dairy and beef farms in the north to horticulture and other alternative land-uses.
While this cuts into the numbers of cattle going through sale yards, values for weaners were expected to be up on last year because of much better growing conditions over the summer compared with 2019-20.
McGahan says Northland was losing cattle to pine trees, avocados and kiwifruit and to vegetable growing and in five years time the yardings at feature fairs would be fewer numbers, but of higher quality.
*Wellsford steer weaner fair, see page 50.
