Australia-The Cow beef market.

AUSTRALIA-COW TRADE.

Cow prices were erratic this week with some grades posting further gains and others easing by a few cents as buyers were reported to be paying closer attention to carcass yields.

The dry conditions have brought marginally more cattle to the market but not in numbers that are likely to tip the scales too heavily in processors’ favour, while northern processors are getting back to more normal operations following recent floods and that has taken some pressure off southern markets.

The National Livestock Reporting Service reported this week on total auction yardings of 1686 head, 250 more than last week and the largest weekly figure since the failed rains last September prompted a clean out in many dairy herds.

Even so Bruce Watson from Vicstock said the major export processors seem a bit more confident about access to offshore markets and with the benefit of a weaker Australian dollar had lifted over-the-hooks prices at the start of this week by 10c a kilogram carcass weight (cwt) with heavy cows at 250c-270c to average 260c/kg cwt, medium weights 230c-250c, average 240c/kg cwt, and light cows from 180c-210c to average 195c/kg cwt.

The NLRS quoted auction market prices for lightweight cows (under 180kg cwt) this week from 50c-114c/kg liveweight (lwt) with the E1 average unchanged at 87c/kg lwt.

Medium weights (180-260kg cwt) sold from 65c to top at 127c/kg lwt with the D2 cows this week averaging 5c/kg higher at 114c/kg lwt, pushing the carcass weight average up by 7c/kg to 259c/kg cwt.

Reasonable numbers of heavy cows at auction markets were well supported by buyers at prices from just under100c/kg to top at 134c/kg lwt (233c-286c cwt) with only a very few of the heaviest cows making more than $1000 a head this week.

Erich Gstrein from NLRS said there was a big lift in cows numbers to 633 head at the Camperdown market this week where carcass weight prices overall were unchanged for the run of cows at 255c/kg cwt. But he said buyers were clearly chasing yield and that saw liveweight prices for many grades pushed 4c-8c/kg lwt lower.

He said E1 light cows made 60c to 93c/kg lwt, medium D1 types from 95c to 108c/kg lwt and heavy D2 Friesian cows from 110c to a top of 127c/kg lwt.

Shepparton Regional Saleyards manager Jock Hicks said prices in a bigger yarding of 600 cows were erratic with some cheaper and some dearer to average unchanged overall.

He quoted heavy cows at 122c to 132c/kg lwt, medium weight black and white cows at 116c to 124c/kg lwt and coloured cows from a low of 85c to 106c/kg lwt.

Greenhams advise no change in their offer prices (no curfew, net of all charges) this week with light cows (under 450kg lwt) from 64c to 84c/kg lwt, medium weights 74c to 94c/kg lwt and heavy cows (over 650kg lwt) at 84c to 104c/kg lwt.