ELDERS Kerr and Co yarded 2515 cattle at their Annual Feature Spring cattle sale held at WVLX Mortlake on Thursday.

The penning contained some outstanding well-bred Western District cattle kept specifically for this annual blue-ribbon fixture.

The sale was made up of approximately 1251 grown and yearling steers, 685 weaner steers, 247 yearling heifers and 310 weaner heifers.

Angus cattle took up the majority, Herefords were well represented and some good quality pens of British breeds and British crosses of both sexes came forward.

A good size crowd followed the sale with spirited bidding especially for the steers at times.

Buyers came from South Australia, Northern and Central Victoria, Gippsland and the surrounding Western Districts. Processors and feeders were active and provided extra competition.

The prices for the steers overall remained fully firm with some isolated sales selling from 5c to 10c/kg stronger at times. Heifer prices generally were generally unchanged to slightly softer depending on demand and quality.

Good quality Angus steer weaners sold from 222c to 260c/kg, averaging 250c/kg. A pen of Hereford steers sold for 172c/kg and Angus X Hereford steer weaners made from 216c to 230c/kg. The Angus weaner heifers sold from 150c to 208c/kg, Hereford heifers made 130c to 178c/kg with the other British breeds selling from 160c to 170c/kg.  

The well-presented Angus steers above 400kg lwt sold from 180c to 250c/kg as they averaged an estimated 240c/kg.

Angus X Hereford yearling steers made between 216c to 232c/kg and the Hereford yearling steer portion sold from 192c to 218c/kg.

A pen of Charolais steers made 190c/kg and a couple of heavy Murray Grey steer pens sold from 200c to 218c/kg.

Yearling Angus heifers sold from 175c to 206c/kg with the Hereford and British cross heifer yearlings selling from 158c to 192c/kg.

A couple of Angus cows with calves at foot pens towards the end of the sale made $1000 to $1125/unit.

Despite a much softer market than last year, the sale was considered a success by Kerr and Co branch manager, Craig Pertzel.

“The quality of the yarding was as good as we’ve ever brought, honestly,” he said.

“From a pricing point of view, it was significantly back off 12 months ago. (But) everyone’s understood where the market was and although it’s disappointing, everyone’s realistic to the fact.”

Sale summary:

Grown Steers: top $1490.28p/hd, top 250.0c/kg.

Grown Heifers: top $1019.83p/hd, top 206.0c/kg.

Weighed Weaner Steers: top $1172.89p/hd, top 260.0c/kg.

Weighed Weaner Heifers: top $929.92p/hd, top 208.0c/kg.