Charters Towers combined agents yarded 2714 cattle on Wednesday, consisting of 990 prime cattle and 1724 store cattle.
The prime cattle consisted of 252 bullocks, 96 heifers, 569 cows and 73 bulls. Store cattle consisted of 963 steers, 712 heifers and 49 cows and calves.
Cattle consisted of a good line-up of finished bullocks and a few runs of finished cows selling to competitive rates.
The yarding was drawn from the Mt Garnet, Mt Surprise, Cloncurry, Richmond, Greenvale, Hughenden, as well as local and coastal areas.
Prime quotes:
Bullocks were quoted 5c dearer, heifers were 5c easier, cows were 3c dearer, and bulls were 20c dearer on last week's rates.
Steers and bullocks under 500kg sold to 370c and averaged 350c, and those over 500kg topped at 362c to average 346c. Heifers under 440kg sold to 362c and averaged 316c, while heifers over 440kg topped at 302c, averaging 302c. Cows under 400kg made 306c and averaged 245c, while cows over 400kg reached 293c, averaging 272c. Bulls under 450kg made 356c and averaged 341c, while bulls over 450kg reached 338c to average 324c.
Bullocks topped at 360c on a/c G and S Spurdle, that weighed 560kg to return $2016/hd. Best priced trade hHeifers were presented on a/c Amity Cattle Co that sold for 362c, weighing 508kg to return $1839/hd. The top pen of cows was sold by Condon Grazing for 293c, weighing 561kg to return $1644/hd. Bulls sold on a/c Colinta Holdings P/L topped at 338c and weighed 723kg, to return $2444/hd.
Store quotes:
Store cattle comprised some very good runs of quality Brahman steers and heifers, resulting in strong competition on both, with the majority of these going to the south.
Steers under 200kg reached 528c to average 512c, steers 200 - 320kg sold to 528c, averaging 441c, steers 320 - 400kg topped at 446c and averaged 402c and steers over 400kg sold to 418c to average 390c. Mickeys under 400kg sold to 522c, averaging 400c. Heifers under 200kg topped at 474c and averaged 439c, heifers 200 - 320kg sold to 476c, averaging 400c, and heifers 320 - 370kg made 390c to average 360c.
A run of 119 steers a/c Condon Grazing made 528c and weighed 237kg, returning an average of $1251/hd. A good pen of 30 heifers a/c Condon Grazing made 476c, weighed 201kg, returning $957/hd. 13 cows and calves sold on a/c M and M Kingham returned $1780/unit.
