“Six weeks out it was so dry that we thought we’d be $100 a head back on last year’s sale prices but three weeks after that the rain came and the cattle up this way have flourished,” PGG Wrightson Northland livestock manager Bernie McGahan said.
With the processing schedules a bit higher and buyers south of Auckland keen for stock, most prices ended up higher than a year earlier, by $25 to $40 a head.
“We’re really happy the way it’s gone,” McGahan said.
The strong trend at the five weaner sales from March 6 to 10 continued on into the next week’s heifer sale series.
Some weaners at the five sales were lighter than usual because of the drought over most of the summer but farmers did a great job managing their herds and some animals had put on weight. The quality was very good overall.
Buyers came from as far south as Marton and Bulls in Rangitikei with others from Wanganui, Bay of Plenty and Waikato. The Taumarunui and Te Kuiti areas of the King Country well represented, McGahan said.
Some of those areas had experienced very good summer pasture growth and had a surplus of feed so needed to buy stock.
One of the contented farmers selling at Kaikohe was John Klaracich who farms on the west coast just south of Hokianga Harbour. He said supply across the region was consistently good quality to match the strong and consistent pricing of the last three years.
A big rise in prices in the two years before had come as a shock to farmers but they had realised that to keep getting the good money they needed to produce “something excellent” and had responded with good breeding and management strategies.
He was getting up to $1100 for his weaners now compared to about $650 for basically similar animals five years ago, though there was ongoing breed improvement.
The first sale was at Wellsford, with 800 steer and bull weaners, with 60% of them going to buyers from south of Auckland. The top price was $1380 at $2.85/kg for a pen of 485kg autumn calves, according to the Wrightson sale report.
At Kauri the next day, there were 1100 weaner steers, generally smaller than those at Wellsford. The top price was $1170. King Country buyers were prominent though the level of Northland buying was stronger than expected.
Wednesday’s Kaikohe sale had nearly 1650 weaners offer and again strong buying from King Country, as well as Bulls and Wanganui. The top price was $1250.
Klaracich had 67 Angus weaners at the sale and his top pen of 10, weighing in at 352kg, sold at $1125 a head.
The top price at Peria the next day was about $1100 on 1450 weaners offered.
The numbers at Broadwood for Friday’s last sale were the biggest overall with a good number of bulls offered. The best price was about $1200 at $4/kg for a 300kg animal.
There were some big rains around Northland during the week of the sales but events weren’t disrupted.
With air and ground temperatures remaining high, the rain was setting Northland up for a bumper autumn and winter of pasture growth, McGahan said.
Klaracich, who had been farming for more than 50 years, ran 280 breeding cows and 80 nursing cows producing about 400 calves a year, with a focus on Angus but also some Simmental/Friesian cross.
All his sales were weaners and heifers. He sourced breeding bulls from different Angus studs but his main focus was on identifying the best dam for breeding.
“The temperament is the main thing for me because you’re handling the cow more often and the easier they are the better animal they are and this can carry on through the calf.”
