Bids firm at NZ Farmer's Livestock sale

Cameron Smith for NZ Farmers Livestock extracts bids up to $200/head for these Stephenson Friesian bull calves on Monday.

Prices remain firm for quality stock, although not reaching the dizzy heights of last week.
A total of 300 stock were sold over three sales August 20-22, and some buyers are starting to reach their early quotas.

Half were sold at NZ Farmer's Livestock sale on Monday, the peak for the best four day Friesian bull calves being $240/head and the rest of the best seldom dropping below $200. Medium quality Friesian bulls ranged from $130/head to $195.

Prices were slightly lower in the PGG Wrightson's Tuesday Mangatainoka sale and Carrfields on Wednesday but good prices were still paid for the best.

These two Hereford X heifers reached $135/head at the Carrfields sale.

There was not a lot of demand for Friesian cross bulls although the top price of $222 was reached for several white faces at Mangatainoka. The range over all sales was $150/head to $222 for the best, dropping to around $100/head for smaller stock.

Quality heifer calves were sought after because of their scarcity, reaching $180/head for four from WF Challies on Monday. Smaller stock reached $100/head.

Stephen and Penny Baker from Te Mara Farms Omakere, near Waipukurau, bought 27 calves on Monday saying the price and quality of stock was acceptable. They have 50 more to buy before they reach their quota.

These older white-faced bull calves from Kiritaki Stream Farms reached $310/head on Monday.

PGG Wrightson's had just under 100 calves, with livestock agent Tim Pickering saying this is barely half of last year's total at this time of the year because farmers are choosing to keep and raise their own.

Carrfields had a small offering on Wednesday but next week there are at least 15 Wagyu crosses registered for sale.