About 1400 head of cattle, mainly Angus and Angus-Hereford cross, were offered and the good, prime beef steers sold for full, solid value, PGG Wrightson Marlborough area livestock manager Peter Barnes said.
A top line of 12 two-year Angus steers weighing in at 560kg fetched $1700 each.
Among the yearling cattle a feature line from Scott McKenzie, from Wairau Valley, topped the sale on a price per/kg basis, his third cut of 42 animals weighing 310kg brought in $3.76/kg, for $1165 each.
“They were well-bred, good, forward yearlings and they will finish well,” Barnes said.
“They’ll put on another 150kg to 200kg by early autumn.”
McKenzie’s top cut of 16 steers weighing 437kg sold at $1490 each, for $3.41kg. His second cut of 30 steers at 401kg brought in $1375.
There was a strong bench of steer buyers looking for stock to finish, including the Anzco Foods 5-Star feedlot in Mid Canterbury.
Barnes said the heifer market appeared to have corrected slightly since the Cheviot market a week or so earlier with some good quality lines struggling to make $3/kg.
“A few weeks ago the talk was that we were looking at $3.20 to $3.30/kg for good quality but we saw some settling here round the $2.90 mark.”
“We’ve come off a strong calf-selling season with high prices paid in the autumn but there is a cap and buyers are unwilling to step up further and squeeze their margins.
“It’s happened quite quickly.”
A lovely line of 11 yearling heifers from Wantwood Farm, weighing in at 304kg, sold for $900.
Stirling Brook farm at Seddon had 60 heifers in, with a 300kg line selling at $910 and a line of 245kg fetching $680, both to trade buyers.
A very good cut of 10 two-year heifers with breeding potential from Summerlands Station in Waihopai Valley, weighing 530kg, were sold at $1380 each.
The focus for buyers was the top end prime beef market with limited buying related to the dairy sector, Barnes said.
The Marlborough cattle come from around the hills of the Ward, Seddon, Awatere, Wairau and surrounding areas with the benefit of 50 to 60 years of closed cow herds offering buyers safeguards from Mycoplasma bovis problems, which haven’t surfaced in the region, Barnes said.
“They’re not buyers or traders there. They just breed and sell their progeny.’’
