Bruce and Margaret Smith were at the Dalrymple Saleyard for the weekly Charters Towers prime and store sale looking to purchase steers for their commercial cattle operation, Good Night Scrub west of Gin Gin.
Mr Smith said prices had been very strong at Biggenden sales in recent weeks, prompting him to head north to Dalrymple to try his luck at the Charters Towers.
“The cost of freight and all other surrounding costs have risen dramatically over the years while until recently the cattle price has remained pretty much fixed,” he said.
Mr Smith said, that with all the overhead costs these days, he was “basically losing one head out of every ten sold”.
“We figure if we can purchase some stock here at a cheaper rate, even with the overheads we incur we’ll still come out ahead of where we would normally be when we buy down south at present.”
In total 1987 head were yarded at the Charters Towers sale including 730 prime cattle and 1257 store cattle. Prime cattle consisted of a small selection of finished bullocks and cows while the rest of the yarding was of plainer condition, including northern cleanskins and lesser quality cattle. A total of 14 heifers to 440kg hit 218c, to average 190c. Cows to 400kg made 226c averaging 188c, and cows over 400kg hit 250c to average 221c. Steers to 500kg hit 284c to average 234c, while steers over 500kg hit 295c to average 274c. Bulls over 450kg made 270c to for 236c.
Store cattle consisted of smaller pens of good quality steers, with the bulk of the yarding comprising lines of northern cleanskins and plainer types. The exception was several lines of good quality backgrounder heifers. Steers to 200kg made 284c to average 246c; 200-320kg steers reached 268c to average 215c; steers 320-400kg peaked at 278c to average 252c and those over 400kg hit 249c to average 242c. Heifers to 200kg reached 248c to average 224c; 200-320kg heifers topped at 250c to average 200c and heifers 320-370kg peaked at 220c to average 180c. Several smaller lines of cows and calves sold from $510/unit to $1200.
