A hike in vendor numbers left Gracemere's prime and store running longer than usual on February 17 - winding up at around 5pm as agents worked long hours to keep up with demand.
Nutrien Rockhampton agent Sam Moy said the late sale came down to a larger number of vendors than last fortnight's sale, with vendors changing from pen to pen.
"People have seen a rise in the market and have taken the opportunities at selling," he said.
"I think it was still positive. There were patches of rain coming through on sale day and it rained all last week. That kept everyone in good spirits.
"I would not be surprised if we see more positive trends this week."
One of Nutrien's pens was a run of 190 Brahman weaners from Rosetta Grazing at Collinsville, with a majority sold to a backgrounder at Alpha, who "supported the heifer job strongly", buying weaner heifers in store condition.
The best of the pen made 280c/kg, weighing 282kg and coming back at $790/head.
"(Gavin Scott) runs quite a large operation up there and normally filters through weaners through the year," Mr Moy said.
"He breeds very high quality cattle and that was definitely reflective of what he sent down. They were good quality heifers.
"They were a really good sale and reflective of good cattle."
Overall, there were 3862 head presented at the Gracemere sale yards, with 3727 sold.
The yarding included 56 cows and calves, 79 heifers, 30 bulls (five between 500-600kg and 25 over 600kg), 346 cows (two over 600kg), 1405 heifers (93 between 400-500kg and one between 500-600kg), 53 mickey bulls (five between 500-600kg), and 1893 steers (five between 500-600kg and one over 600kg).
Cows and calves made a minimum of $660/head, for a top of $1625/hd and an average of $1166/hd.
Bulls went for 180.2c/kg up to 284.2c/kg and an average of 247.16c/kg.
Cows went for 65.20c/kg up to 279.20c/kg, and an average of 238.48c/kg.
Heifers went for 100.00c/kg up to 324.20c/kg, and an average of 261.30c/kg. Mickey bulls went for 198.20c/kg up to 348.20c/kg, and an average of 263.93c/kg.
Steers sold for 160.0c/kg up to 422.2c/kg and an average of 337.31c/kg.
GDL Rockhampton agent Simon Kinbacher said the fat cattle were slightly cheaper, and prices were 5-10c/kg cheaper over the whole of the kill cattle.
"The feeder steers remained firm for heavy feeder steers. The weaner steers were definitely firm to a fraction dearer in spots...we were seeing number fours, which is genuine weaner steers starting to come onto the market," he said.
"The quality was very good in our weaner steers. The feeder heifers and weaner heifers were both cheaper by about 10-20c/kg and the biggest correction on both of the heifer markets were probably the lack of quality in the feeder heifers.
"There were more content heifers of female Brahman or Brahman cross heifers, which was probably reflective of why the price was 20c/kg cheaper. There was no run of cross bred heifers.
"The weaner heifers were similar quality to the weaner steers, but lacked a few backgrounders."
Mr Kinbacher said the Friday sale presented top end good quality weaner heifers that were slightly cheaper than last fortnight, but quality heifers were firm to previous weeks.
"(The cheaper prices) were just because of the amount of cattle that have been on the market in the last fortnight...especially from Dalby and Roma it's been the same...6000-7000 for two consecutive weeks," he said.
"A lot of cattle on the market at once and it's generally given people more cattle to choose from and taken a bit of the pressure off demand.
"It hasn't been forced due to it being too wet. We aren't too wet, but more so people are generally chasing a bit of money because people held onto cattle from October through to Christmas time, when we saw the bottom of the market and the weather conditions were ordinary.
"A lot of people, if they had the opportunity, held onto cattle with the hope the money would come good. It obviously has come good now and people are chasing the money. That was the biggest driver to the numbers."
Vendors presented a large run of weaner cattle from Collinsville, but a large cohort was predominately local, from around the Rockhampton region.
"We had (a pen of 12) Charbrays of Farlane Park Grazing from Middlemount and they topped at 414.0c/kg, at 247kg, coming back at $1025. In that pen there was 12. He sent down 100 mixed sex," Mr Kinbacher said.
Another highlight was a pen of Brangus steers from Goodwin Livestock at Bluff, which sold for 368c/kg, weighing 456kg to return $1681/head.
Aaron Wood from Mt Chalmers sold Charbray steers for 378c/kg, weighing 435kg to return $1645/head.
O Thomas from Sandringham sold Charbray cross steers for 382c/kg, weighing 433kg to return $1655/head.
S & Z Corrie from Rannes sold Brahman cross cows and calves for $1450/unit.
Overall, Mr Kinbacher said the general outlook for the year's market was positive.
"Generally, state-wide wide the season has been good to people, and I suppose everyone is feeling positive and outlook for the season going forward too (is positive)," he said
"They're talking about a bit of a wet winter, which will be good.
"Generally we shouldn't see it getting any higher than it is at the moment, but I don't see it getting as cheap as October/November."
Gracemere's next sale will be held on February 21, with 3250 head expected to be presented.
