Charters Towers combined agents yarded a total of 1689 cattle on Wednesday consisting of 783 prime cattle and 906 store cattle.
The prime cattle consisted of 143 bullocks, 94 heifers, 444 cows and 102 bulls. Store cattle consisted of 194 steers, 371 mickey bulls, 316 heifers and 25 x 22 cows and calves.
Cattle comprised very mixed lines of prime and store cattle with a few good pens of prime cattle well sought after with mixed results on plainer types.
The yarding was drawn from Burketown, Normanton, Georgetown, Greenvale, Forsayth, Mt Garnet, Einasleigh, Richmond, Julia Creek, Hughenden, Torrens Creek, Winton, Ayr, Paluma, local and coastal areas.
Prime quotes:
Bullocks were quoted 5-10c easier, heifers were 6-10c dearer, cows were 6-12c dearer and bulls were unchanged on last week's rates.
Steers and bullocks under 500kg sold to 259c and averaged 213c, and those over 500kg topped at 269c to average 252c. Heifers under 440kg sold to 230c and averaged 188c, while heifers over 440kg topped at 235c, averaging 204c. Cows under 400kg made 209c and averaged 130c, while cows over 400kg reached 223c, averaging 188c. Bulls under 450kg made 280c and averaged 220c, while bulls over 450kg reached 284c to average 245c.
Bullocks topped at 269.2c for 10 ox sold on a/c Laroona Pastoral Co, Charters Towers, that weighed 627kg to return $1687/hd. Best priced trade heifers were presented on a/c Olderfleet Cattle Co, Mt Coolon, that sold for 235.2c and weighed 450kg to return $1058/hd.
The top pen of cows were sold by BW and GJ Kirkwood, Somerview, Mingela, for 223.2c weighing 568kg to return $1268/hd. Bulls sold on a/c FW and RA Blacklock, Balootha, Julia Creek, topped at 284.2c and weighed 654kg to return $1859/hd.
Store quotes:
Store cattle comprised limited good lines of steers and heifers which were met with strong competition along with a larger line of mickey bulls and mixed types which found the market tougher across the board.
Steers under 200kg reached 294c to average 267c, steers 200 - 320kg sold to 310c, averaging 219c, steers 320 - 400kg topped at 280c and averaged 234c and steers over 400kg sold to 278c to average 270c. Mickeys under 400kg sold to 280c, averaging 227c. Heifers under 200kg topped at 208c and averaged 173c, heifers 200 - 320kg sold to 232c, averaging 182c, and heifers 320 - 370kg made 200c to average 197c.
A pen of 20 steers a/c BA and RA Howe, Zig Zag Station, Herveys Range made 310.2c and weighed 221kg, returning an average of $685.54/hd. A good pen of 18 heifers on a/c WJ and KL Bethel, Jenkins Creek,Georgetown, made 232.2c, weighed 207kg returning $480/hd. 25 x 22 cows and calves sold on a/c Mark Bishop, Mt Garnet returned $420/unit.