Stock Report: July 31

By Stuart Sheldrake

THERE were 1,137 cattle penned at the Scone saleyards yesterday.

It was a very tough day at the office.

In the last fortnight conditions have deteriorated and we’re just starting to see calves coming off cows and a lot more cows coming onto the market that probably people were trying to feed, but it’s just got to the point where people have hit the panic button.

A lot of cows and a lot of light calves were there and the market suffered substantially, some were probably 20 to 30 cents cheaper and more in places, everything was cheaper.

Good butcher calves that are off irrigation country or off grain and even they were 10 to 12 cents cheaper and everything else 20 to 40 cents cheaper.

Because of the rise in numbers this week I think we saw a bit more supply which affected prices and it is a bit quiet at this time of the year normally, with it being winter.

A lot of the cattle going tot he abattoir is still strong, but what we are seeing is a lot of the cattle that we are getting are not fat, they are store cattle.

We were probably one of the first areas in trouble with the drought but we had other areas in the country that were good so those areas came and supported this market, but what now that the drought has spread there is just no where to go.