Charters Towers combined agents yarded a total of 1883 cattle on Wednesday consisting of 622 prime cattle and 1261 store cattle.
The prime cattle consisted of 60 bullocks, 30 heifers, 496 cows and 36 bulls. The store cattle consisted of 453 steers, 229 heifers and 579 mickeys.
With recent rainfall of about 170mm (7 inches) in and around Charters Towers, numbers were reduced at Wednesday's sale.
Prime cattle comprised a few bullocks with limited finished cows on offer. Not all meatworks and exporters were in attendance due to road closures.
The yarding was drawn from Croydon, Mt Isa, Cloncurry, Julia Creek, Hughenden, and local areas.
Prime quotes:
Bullocks were quoted 5-10c dearer, heifers were unchanged, cows were 5-10c dearer and bulls were unchanged on last week's rates.
Steers and bullocks under 500kg sold to 407c and averaged 375c, and those over 500kg topped at 392c to average 384c. Heifers under 540kg sold to 396c and averaged 370c. Cows under 400kg made 330c and averaged 299c, while cows over 400kg reached 354c, averaging 321c. Bulls over 450kg reached 366c to average 330c.
Bullocks topped at 407c, sold on a/c Matt McClymont, Truro, Hughenden, that weighed 493kg to return $2006/hd. Best priced trade heifers were presented on a/c Cunningham Cattle Co, Esmeralda, Croydon, that sold for 396c and weighed 339kg to return $1343/hd. The top pen of cows was sold by Winsper Family Trust, Kurong Station, Cloncurry, for 354.2c, weighing 520kg to return $1841/hd. Bulls sold on a/c Cunningham Cattle Co, Esmeralda, Croydon, topped at 360c and weighed 706kg to return $2543/hd.
Store quotes:
Store cattle were made up of a few good lines of steers and young mickeys with a handful of heifers on offer.
Competition was very active across all lines and prices improved accordingly.
Steers under 200kg reached 738c to average 629c, steers 200 - 320kg sold to 602c, averaging 466c, steers 320 - 400kg topped at 420c and averaged 408c and steers over 400kg sold to 414c to average 410c. Mickeys under 400kg sold to 680c, averaging 533c. Heifers under 200kg topped at 602c and averaged 525c, heifers 200 - 320kg sold to 580c, averaging 483c, and heifers 320 - 370kg made 374c to average 374c.
A pen of 20 steers a/c S and T Golding, Brookdale, Pentland, made 738c and weighed 138kg, returning an average of $1018/hd. 45 mickey bulls a/c Fleetwood Grazing Co, Mittagong, Croydon, made 680.2c, weighed 140kg to return $952/hd. A good pen of 20 heifers on a/c Winsper Family Trust, Kurong Station, Cloncurry, made 602c, weighed 148kg, returning an average of $891/hd.
