Prolonged dry weather since Christmas has reduced the appetite of buyers and some of the normal restockers from hilly regions like the King Country and the Central Plateau are either absent from the big fairs or more selective.
“Slaughter values for the finished products have also come back $100 a head so that reduced what buyers were willing to pay for weaners,” PGG Wrightson livestock area manager Neil Common said in Hawke’s Bay.
The tops of the fairs reached over $1100 a head for bulls or steers with the favoured breeding.
The average bulk of medium-to-heavy weaner bulls and steers were traded about $3.30-$4/kg live weight and heifers were down in a range $2.80-$3.30c.
The best prices consistently were paid at Rangiuru on March 13, where Hereford bulls topped $4/kg and reached a high of $1180. Bulls averaged $1030 at that sale.
In Northland the Kaikohe fairs culminating on March 20 produced the best results for vendors, Carrfields Livestock agent Tim Williamson said.
“The quality of Kaikohe weaners was very good and the visitors from further south had worked out what they wanted.
“But in general both local buyers and those from south of Auckland were quite selective during the weaner fair season because of the widespread dry conditions.
“Steers took the biggest thump, down $200 from last year’s exceptional prices, and heifers were not hit quite as bad, down $100 on average.
“Smaller heifers were left on the cows and vendors retained more calves on-farm to bring out when it does rain.”
Among the trends Williamson and his colleagues noticed were greater Angus heifer demand as farmers sought to rebuild their breeding herds and perhaps fewer Charolais-cross.
“The exotic-cross heavy bulls at Broadwood still sold well to buyers who seek them every year.”
Further south PGG Wrightson sheep and beef representative Neil Lyons, Waikato, said strong buying power resulted in total clearances as farmers looked to the future of beef demand.
“Sure, it has been very dry but that hasn’t stopped the purchasing because of the need for replacements.”
Commons thought the numbers of exotic calves were down slightly and they were harder to sell and 15-20c/kg lower in price, which is the case most years.
Hawke’s Bay was dry but nothing out of the ordinary but the out-of-district buyers were not so numerous.
“The normal annual drafts came out, with the usual breeding, but vendors may hold back lighter calves in next week’s round of sales now they know the new values.”
At Feilding on March 21 the tops were lighter traditional steers around $4/kg while the rest made about $3.70-$3.75/kg.
AgriHQ livestock analyst Suz Bremner said weaner prices across the North Island were down $50 to $200 a head on last year.
But to be fair, 2017-2018 prices were exceptional, being the highest since 2015, she said.
Attention focuses this week on East Coast weaners fairs at Matawhero and Wairoa and South Island calf sales occupy sale yards during April.
