Around the sales
Speckles Parks sizzle in a red hot store and prime market By Kim Woods
C and J Henry, Wandoan, sold a line of 96 Speckle Park/Droughtmaster yearling steers, 352kg and 12 to 15 months for $2130 or 604c/kg
Prices for store and prime Speckle Park and Speckle Park infused cattle reached dizzying heights as record after record was smashed in an extraordinary year for the cattle industry. A national herd rebuild, return to favourable seasons and strong export market kicked along prices for commercial cattle. Purebred and Speckle Park infused steer weaners topped at 985c/kg or $2150 per head in physical and online markets, while purebred and crossbred weaner heifers topped at $2405 or 878c/kg.
A grown Speckle Park/Friesian heifer, 24 months and 605kg, made $2650 while yearling Speckle Park cross heifers, 15 to 18 months, topped at $2800. Weaner Speckle Park/Angus heifers, 284-388kg, sold for $2000-$2200. In the steer pens, a grown Speckle Park/Friesian steer, 540kg, made 425c/kg or $2300, a yearling F1 steers, 460kg, made 467c/kg or $2150, weaner crossbred steers, 10 to 11 months, made 545c/kg or $2150.
Unjoined commercial heifers finished at $2880 or 960c/kg and yearling steers $2150 or 643c/kg. Feeder steers topped out at $2585 or 603c/ kg, and heavy grown steers at $3101.
R Malcolm and A McDonald sold F1 weaner steers, six to seven months and 303kg, for $2000 or 660c/kg, and their tops, weighing 342kg, made $2140 or 625c/kg.
Unjoined grown heifers finished at $2800 and PTIC heifers sold to $3620, while unjoined cows topped at $2700.
Topping the yarding on a cents per kilogram basis was C and J Dietrich with F1 steer weaners, six months, at 688c/kg or $1240. They also topped the weaner heifers with Speckle Park/Friesians, six months and 198kg, at $1320 or 666c/kg.
Unjoined heifers with calves sold to a stellar $4550, cows and calves to $4500 and joined cows with calves to $4460. A highlight of the store sales was the Shepparton Special Speckle Park Store Sale on November 5 where prices hit $4500 for cows and calves.
The sale was hosted by Mulcahy Nelson Livestock and grossed $560,665 and averaged $2674 with cattle selling to Victoria, NSW and South Australia.
Topping the cow and calf offering was six Speckle Park/Angus heifers, two years and 545kg, with calves, sold by Black Diamond Speckle Park, Macorna. Their seconds sold for $4300.
The breed hit the headlines in June 2021 when a line of unjoined purebred heifers weighing 364kg and 14 to 15 months, were sold by a Tasmanian vendor for $4875 to a NSW buyer.
Older Speckle Park cross cows, five to seven years, with calves, sold to $3550 while a five-year-old unjoined Speckle Park cow, 525kg, made $2700.
Born in a four-week period across February and March of 2020, these heifers were registered and offered by Elders Tasmania on behalf of J and V Argent, Elliot. Continued page 52
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