There was confidence in the buying gallery at the Western Victoria Livestock Exchange at Mortlake's September store sale on Thursday, but prices either kept firm or were slightly dearer than the last sale.
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Agents yarded nearly 4500 cattle, which was up from the projected 3500 earlier in the week, as some vendors decided to rush late cattle into the saleyard to take advantage of the upward trend in prices.
Lighter cattle were the big performers of the day, with weaner steers between 300-400 kilograms regularly selling for 630 cents a kilogram and higher.
Pens of cattle that were even lighter than that range were regularly pushing past 700c/kg, with two pens of weaner Angus steers sold by Moanariki being a highlight.
A pen from that vendor of 32 weaner Angus steers, 228kg, and another pen of 25 weaner Angus steers, 192kg, were sold for 848c/kg for each pen, or $1941 and $1629 a head respectively.
Grown heifers and steers also averaged around the mid-500c/kg range, and medium weight steers sold up to 15c/kg dearer, while very light weaner steers were slightly cheaper than last month's sale.
Weaner and grown heifers were slightly stronger by about 10c/kg across the board than last sale.
Nutrien Warrnambool auctioneer Josh McDonald said prices, particularly for lighter cattle, would continue to head in a positive direction.
"It's been a solid day, with heavy cattle very similar to last month, if not slightly dearer, but it's the lighter cattle that are getting a lot more competition," he said.
"If you yarded very little cattle today, they were very much sought after, and the medium to heavy weight weaner cattle, like the 300-400kg, steers had sold with a fair increase as well."
He also noted that local interest for cattle was trending upwards.
Henry Veenstra, Wattle Lane, Simpson, who sold 13 Speckle Park steers, 411kg, for 552c/kg or $2268, said the weight factor for him was why he was selling cattle.
"It seems to be the proper weight to sell them at right now, where we can get the most for it," he said.
The September Mortlake store sale will be the last monthly sale for 2022, with the store sale heading back to a twice-a-month arrangement from October.
Donley sold 12 Angus/Simmental steers, 452kg, for 592c/kg or $2681.
Bimberdeen sold 32 Angus steers, 568kg, for 561c/kg or $3187, and another pen of 13 Angus steers, 610kg for 544c/kg or $3320.
Edgewood sold 23 Angus steers, 373kg, for 648c/kg or $2421.
TA & DE Richardson sold a pen of 12 Angus steers, 302kg, for 712c/kg or $2156, and another pen of 10 steers, 359kg, for 668c/kg or $2398.
RFB Kelly sold 32 Hereford steers, 245kg, for 754c/kg or $1854.
