Dramatic change

Press, 12 April 1979, Page 13

Dramatic change

There has been a dramatic change in the cattle sales at Addington market in recent months. A look at the level of prices this week and a year ago for prime cattle shows that prices now are double to more than double those of a year ago.

At the same time in the store pens calf prices this week, when there was the first sizeable yarding of the season, were about three times higher for steer calves and three times to more than three times higher for heifer calves. The principal factor in all of this, of course, has been the dramatic rise in prices for beef in the United States, which has been reflected in export prices to farmers. Other factors at play in the strong market include the decline in cattle numbers over the last few years as farmers have gone out of cattie in face of low prices for beef, and also currently the excellent feed conditions in the province giving farmers the opportunity to hold on to cattle for possibly even higher prices in the future and also contributing to the demand for a restricted supply of store stock for fattening. There is a similar story across the Tasman. A reader has supplied a copy of “Stock and Land” for late last month which reports on three calf sales in Gippsland in Victoria. At these sales for 6128 calves the average price was $190.50. Steer calves sold to $297.50 and heifer calves to $262.50. The average for these sales was $l5O up on last year and $56 higher than the best reached in the previous peak year of 1974. At Addington this week steer calves were topping the $2OO mark occasionally and ranging up to $240 and heifer calves were getting up close to the $2OO mark.