“It’s our best steer sale so far,” Hazlett Rural general manager Ed Marfell said.
It was also one of the last sales of the weaner season in Canterbury and buyers decided they were better to pay up rather than risk missing out.
“We’ve got these renowned stations, great reputations and repeat buyers keep coming back,” Marfell said.
Prices have edged higher as the sale season has progressed though they are still below last year’s levels, by $100 to $150 a head, which were too much in sellers’ favour and cut into buyer margins.
“Everyone has to get a return and all are getting a bit this year and the breeders are still happy,” he said.
Calves are also quite a bit lighter this year, affecting the per-head prices. Spring and early summer were cool and wet and the summer heat came later than usual.
Glenthorne Station sold a pen of 26 lighter Angus steer calves at an average $4.10/kg and a range of other pens at between $3.66/kg and $3.88/kg.
One happy vendor was Flockhill Station manager Richard Hill who averaged $3.72/kg for his Angus steer calves, up from $3.52 last year. Bottom-line prices were lower because the calves were typically 15kg to 18kg lighter because of the season.
“We had snow in October and it was cold through November and December but they’ve done well since January and looked really good in their coats.
“The people who wanted our steer calves really wanted them. I was very pleased with our prices.’’
Marfell said buyers came from the lower West Coast region to buy at Coalgate as well as buyers from throughout Canterbury.
“The sales have strengthened since the first sales at the end of March, helped by a bit more moisture in parts of Canterbury.”
He reported very good confidence levels among both buyers and sellers for the year ahead for both sheep meat and beef prices.
“On supply and demand the next couple years look good.”
Just over 1000 steer calves and about 430 heifers were sold.
They were a bit harder to sell than the steers, with signs a good number were struggling to add weight in the last 10 days or so in the high country. The heifers are predominantly sold for finishing rather than breeding. The big farms keep their best heifers as herd replacements or to build up numbers and those being sold are second-line stock.
Prices ranged from less than $3/kg to $3.54/kg for a pen of good-weighted Charolais heifers offered by Lees Valley farmers C and M Dalzell. They sold other pens at $3.07/kg to $3.48/kg after earlier selling Charolais steers at $4.13/kg to $3.55/kg.
