A buoyant buy-up of beef cattle at Bairnsdale on Friday helped cattle prices surge to almost 800 cents a kilogram as buyers from four states placed orders for annual drafts of weaner cattle. Agents yarded about 3100 head for the fortnightly store sale where new feedlot orders and renewed optimism among restockers underpinned the East Gippsland Livestock Exchange market. Buyers from NSW, SA and southern Queensland as well as Victoria competed for cattle as eastern Victorian graziers continue to experience one of the best starts to a new year in living memory. READ MORE: Nutrien East Gippsland Livestock manager Brad Obst said the sale featured some "outstanding" runs of breeders' cattle. "The quality of the cattle was outstanding and there was certainly South Australia and New South Wales represented at the sale and one load of cattle even went into southern Queensland," Mr Obst said. "This is one of our major feature sales and the cattle that come forward for this sale attract a very good reputation so buyers from across Gippsland and further afield compete for these cattle." Mr Obst said all classes of cattle were met with strong demand, and trended higher on a price per head basis compared to other recent Gippsland sales. "I liked our run of Beasley cattle because there was 190-odd of them and they were all bought by the same buyer," he said. "But to try and single out a particularly run of cattle is unfair because there were all outstanding runs." Elders Bairnsdale livestock manager Morgan Davies said the addition of some major volume cattle buyers underpinned the fortnightly sale. "We had a couple of new feedlot orders for heavy black steers and the flow-on effect made the sale strong all the way through," he said. "The line-up of cattle at Bairnsdale was probably as good as we've ever seen at the saleyard. "There wasn't a great deal of cattle under 300 kilos and normally there is quite a few there, but they were few and far between." Mr Davies said exceptional seasonal conditions across most of Gippsland meant graziers were able to hold onto their second and third drafts of cattle due to the abundance of available feed. He said up to 20,000 weaner cattle would be sold in East Gippsland in the coming months with the March Mountain Calf Sales at Omeo, Benambra, Hinnomunjie and Ensay and additional feature sales at Bairndale and Heyfield in the pipeline. Nambrok Station sold a consignment of 297 mixed-sex Angus cattle, 10-12 months, including 26 Angus heifers, 301kg, for $2140 a head or 710 cents a kilogram, 25 Angus heifers, 277kg, for $1910 or 689c/kg, 25 Angus heifers, 273kg, for $1910 or 699c/kg and 22 Angus heifers, 295kg, for $1910 or 647c/kg. The same vendor also sold 24 Angus steers, 391kg for $2450 or 626c/kg, 21 Angus steers, 365kg, for $2320 or 636c/kg, 21 Angus steers, 355kg, for $2290 or 645c/kg and 21 Angus steers, 355kg, for $2290 or 645c/kg. Nambrok Station's draft of 177 steers averaged $2235, while 120 heifers averaged $1929. JM Jordan, Ensay, sold a consignment of 129 Angus calves, 10-11 months, including 26 steers, 391kg, for $2420 or 618c/kg, 22 steers, 365kg, for $2310 or 632c/kg and 25 steers, 348kg, for $2280 or 655c/kg. The vendor also sold 28 Angus heifers, 335kg, for $2650 or 791c/kg and 28 heifers, 310kg, for $2470 or 796c/kg. SR & MC Beasley, Delvine Park, Lindenow South, also headlined the sale with a feature draft of cattle including 23 Angus steers, 421kg, for $2510 or 596c/kg, 26 steers, 412kg, for $2510, or 609c/kg and 26 steers, 404kg, for $2510 or 621c/kg. Macclesfield Pastoral, Orbost, sold 90 Angus steers, 10-12 months, including 29 steers, 361kg, for $2330 or 645c/kg, 27 steers, 354kg, for $2320 or 655c/kg and 28 steers, 330kg, for $2270 or 687c/kg. C & J Cooper, Wulgulmerang, sold 10 Hereford steers, 16-18 months, 532kg, for $2840 or 533c/kg and 13 Hereford heifers of the same age, 473kg, for $2740 or 579c/kg. The Coopers also sold 22 Hereford heifers, 16-18 months, 427kg, for $2700 or 632c/kg. WJ & A Henderson, Gelantipy, sold nine Hereford steers, 16-18 months, 485kg, for $2670 or 550c/kg. J & T Sandy, Canni, sold 18 Angus steers, 16-18 months, 500kg, for $2710 or 542c/kg. PJ Fleming, Rosedale, sold 24 Angus steers, 10-11 months, 399kg, for $2400 or 601c/kg, 14 Black Baldy steers, 10-11 months, 361kg, for $2320 or 642c/kg and 21 Angus heifers 353kg, for $2470 or 699c/kg. G & F Andrews, Nicholson, sold 36 Angus steers, 10-11 months, including 20, 384kg, for $2420 or 630c/kg annd 16, 337kg, for $2360 or 700c/kg. The same vendor also sold 39 Angus heifers, 10-11 months, including 19, 355kg, for $2570 or 723c/kg and 20 heifers, 319kg, for $2300 or 721c/kg. P & K Geehman, Ensay, sold 61 Shorthorn/Hereford-cross calves, 10-11 months, including 22 steers, 406kg, for $2580 or 635c/kg, 19 steers, 386kg, for $2370 or 613c/kg, 20 steers, 369kg, for $2320 or 628c/kg and 14 steers, 326kg, for $2340 or 717c/kg. PQ & PS Sutton sold 23 Angus steers, 566kg, for $2980 or 526c/kg, 25 Angus steers, 506kg, for $2840 or 561c/kg and 28 Angus steers, 437kg, for $2620 or 599c/kg. Hookey Pastoral sold 18 Angus steers, 323kg, for $2220 or 687c/kg. Tony Schauble sold 12 Angus steers, 429kg, for $2570 or 599c/kg. BH & JG Traill sold 21 Angus steers, 438kg, for $2630 or 600c/kg. G & A Trewin sold 16 Angus steers, 408kg, for $2450 or 600c/kg. G & R Maher sold 27 Angus steers, 390kg, for $2470 or 633c/kg. Coonmoor Pastoral sold 27 Angus steers, 356kg, for $2390 or 671c/kg. Neil Henderson sold 15 Angus heifers, 430kg, for $2560 or 595c/kg. Richardson Farms sold 21 Angus heifers, 373kg, for $2200 or 589c/kg. Mrs CA McKenna sold 16 Black/Red Baldy heifers, 355kg, for $2100 or 591c/kg. JCJ & LM White sold 16 Angus heifers, 349kg, for $2110 or 604c/kg.
