With the Easter holiday break looming and most processors having enough cattle on hand, supply numbers eased. A smaller field of buyers attended and operated on the mainly good quality offering. Better quality grown steers were dearer by 10c/kg, while odd yearling heifer prices were equal to dearer in places. Grown heifers however eased up to 10c, while the small penning of cows sold from unchanged to 10c/kg cheaper. There were no vealers penned today and very few yearling steers came forward. The plain D1 and D2 steers sold from 80c to 170c/kg to trade and restocker buyers. A single C3 steer made to 278c/kg, and went to a processor. Yearling heifers sold from 183c to 273c, with restockers topping at 270c/kg. The plain to very good yarding of C3 grown steers sold from 258c to 297c, with a sale to 306c/kg. The better grown heifers made from 220c to 248c/kg. The few good, heavy weight beef cows sold from 205c to 230c, with the D2 grade making from 158c to 180c, while the 1 score cows made from 154c to 160c/kg. A very plain 1 score pen sold at 120c/kg. A plain to average selection of bulls sold from 151c to 198c/kg.

BULLOCKS

6 Hfd 570kg @ 270c/kg, $1539ph J Rix

4 Hfd 528kg @ 275c/kg, $1451ph Shadey Park

4 Hfd 533kg @ 260c/kg, $1385ph Lakeview

STEERS

1 Red Ang X 456kg @ 278c/kg, $1268ph K Geppart

HEIFERS

4 Ang Frs X 376kg @ 250c/kg, $941ph K Geppart

1 Ang Frs X 360kg @ 210c/kg, $756ph Gnotuk Park

2 Ang Frs X 343kg @ 170c/kg, $582ph Lakeview

BULLOCKS

29 Ang 555kg @ 297c/kg, $1648ph Furneaux

2 Ang 568kg @ 276c/kg, $1566ph Naweenda

2 Ang 620kg @ 261c/kg, $1618ph KL & LE Mowat

TRADE HEIFERS

2 MG 457kg @ 257c/kg, $1221ph AJ & IK Boyd

10 SH 413kg @ 250c/kg, $1033ph RP & MF Murphy

2 Ang 600kg @ 248c/kg, $1488ph Naweenda

3 Sim 525kg @ 248c/kg, $1302ph KL & LE Mowat

COWS

3 MG 560kg @ 215c/kg, $1204ph AJ & IK Boyd

4 Ang X 629kg @ 215c/kg, $1352ph Naweenda

14 MG 581kg @ 204c/kg, $1185ph Minhamite Rural

BULLS

1 MG 818kg @ 198c/kg, $1620ph AJ & IK Boyd

BULLOCKS

6 Hfd X 648kg @ 252c/kg, $1633ph F & C Vogels

STEERS

5 Ang 521kg @ 288c/kg, $1500ph L & H Delaney

7 Char 500kg @ 278c/kg, $1390ph F & C Vogels

HEIFERS

1 Ang 402kg @ 200c/kg, $804ph E Anson

COWS

4 Ang 558kg @ 205c/kg, $1143ph E Anson

2 Ang 532kg @ 175c/kg, $932ph Mingawalla

Monday, April 22: No Market (Easter Monday)

Monday, April 29: Prime Market, 9am

Monday, May 6: Prime Market, 9am

Monday, May 13: Prime Market 9am

Thursday, May 16: Store Sale, 10am

April 15. Yarding: 625. Change: 158.

Numbers at Ballarat lifted ahead of the Easter break and the continuing dry conditions, forcing a large sell off of cows. 625 head were yarded, with cows making up over 50 per cent of the yarding. Quality was mostly plain to average, with a few pens of better presented cows and steers offered. The usual field of processor, restocker and feeder buyers operated in an easier market, with a few vealer heifers selling dearer, as grown steers sold approximately firm, making to 255c/kg. Lighter weight grown heifers sold 10c dearer, with the better covered C and D muscle 3 and 4 score cows making from approximately firm to 5c/kg easier on last week. Most other cows sold from 10c to 30c easier, with very light cows at times making from 10c to 40c/kg to restockers and the trade. Numbers comprised 370 cows, 127 steers, 100 heifers, 28 bulls and a few pens of open auction young cattle. Vealers and yearlings sold to the trade from 120c to 265c, with feeders and restockers active, purchasing the bulk of the young cattle from 150c to 255c, while plainer, lighter cattle made from 20c to 100c/kg The few grown steers held their value, making sold from 220c to 255c/kg. Manufacturing steers and heavy dairy types sold at 224c, the crossbreds made to 170c, and lighter dairy types received from 133c to 174c/kg. Grown heifers with cover improved at times, lighter weights reaching 230c, as heavier lots sold from 185c to 210c, while feeders paid from 151c to 220c/kg. Better covered C and D muscle 3 and 4 score cows sold from 170c to 206c, with the 2 scores making from 130c to 180c/kg. Medium weights sold from 92c to 165c, with 1 scores receiving from 52c to 124c/kg. Light E1 cows sold from 20c to 80c, as restockers paid from 10c to 93c for light cows and from 70c to 136c/kg for the medium weights. Dairy bred cows sold from 70c to 140c, with light E1 types receiving 56c/kg.

Prices at Mount Gambier, SA, store market made up some of the ground lost at the March store sale. Heavier cattle, particularly those weighing more than 340 kilograms, sold well to feedlot and grazier competition, buyers from JBS Australia, Teys Australia and Thomas Foods, keeping a floor in the prices of heavier steers, but lighter cattle were tougher going, selling mainly to local graziers. The yarding still drew solid competition on a good run of well-bred spring-drop calves, from one of the smallest galleries of buyers in recent times. "Feeder steer prices were comparable to other [recent] sales, with feedlotters chasing anything big enough and well-bred enough to put on feed over the winter months," Dale Keatley, Landmark Keatley, Mount Gambier, said. "Graziers are making room for the new season's calves and with lambing around the corner, are trying to conserve fodder supplies, so they're selling anything not suitable to their operation. "Everyone's waiting for rain." Heavy 450kg-plus steers sold from 268-298 cents a kilogram, while Angus steers from 360-450kg made 241-329c/kg and coloured steers, 360-450kg, returned 207-282c/kg. Angus steers from 320-360kg sold at 260-318c/kg, while coloured steers of the same weights made 194-278c/kg. Lighter Angus steers under 280-320kg sold from 248-316c/kg, while their coloured counterparts made 153-269c/kg. Angus steers under 280kg sold from 264-312c/kg. Heywood Flats, Heywood, sold three 540kg Angus steers at the top per head price of $1450 or 268c/kg to JBS Australia. Their second draft, 463kg, made $1380 or 298c/kg to Teys Australia. A draft of Heywood Flats' 15-16 month-old Limousin-cross steers, 402kg, sold at $870 or 216c/kg to Creek Livestock, Mount Gambier. Sunray Pastoral, Hatherleigh, SA, sold 22, 12-14 month-old European Union-accredited and Pasturefed Cattle Assurance System-eligible Angus-cross steers, 410kg, at $1350, achieving the top price a kilogram of the day at 329c/kg to Teys Charlton. Its draft of 14, 12-14 month-old Euro-cross steers, 451kg, sold to JBS Australia at $1240 or 275c/kg. Balrook, Dartmoor, sold 18, 10-12 month-old Angus-cross steers, 370kg, at $1120 or 303c/kg to O'Connor & Graney, with a second draft, 381kg, selling to Green Triangle Livestock at $1220 or 320c/kg. In the heifers, those weighing 360-450kg made 205-266c/kg, 320-360kg heifers sold from 199-247c/kg, 280-320kg from 184-251c/kg, and those under 280kg from 175-235c/kg. Millanda Estate, Mount Gambier, sold 15, 12 month-old Weeran-blood Angus heifers, 423kg, at the top heifer price of $1100 or 260c/kg to Scott Creek Livestock.