Bull sales up as good beef prices drive dairy farmer demand
There's definitely been a lift in values and there's a genuine shortage of good cows out there NZ Farmers livestock agent Bill Sweeney
Strong demand from dairy farmers has helped fuel buoyant prices for bulls during the on-farm selling season in Waikato.
Over the past two seasons cashstrapped dairy farmers have mated part of their dairy herd to a beef bull to capitalise on strong international beef prices. This has resulted in white-headed dairybeef calves from hereford bulls fetching $250-$400 at saleyards in the province.
The calves provided much needed cashflows at a time of the year when the milking season had yet to fully begin, PGG Wrightson agent Cam Heggie said.
‘‘I think a lot of them have looked at the payout and thought, ‘let’s put the tail end of our cows to a beef bull and sell a few’.’’
Prices were generally up by about $200 on last year’s sales and yearling hereford sales were making prices averaging $3100 and $3200, he said.
‘‘The $3200 was a catalogue of 80 and the $3100 one was a catalogue of 40 so they were both reasonable numbers with very good averages.’’
Another sale earlier this month near Dargaville had 90 yearling angus bulls averaging $3000. A highlight of the selling season so far was the sale of a yearling hereford bull to a Wairarapa based stud for $10,000 at the Newcastle Stud’s annual sale near Ngaruawahia, he said.
The 626kg bull was bought by Bruce Mckenzie of Maungahia Herefords of Masterton and the underbidders were the Otapawa Stud, owned by the Robbie family of Eketahuna. While most buyers at the sales were dairy farmers, there were also sheep and beef farmers wanting bulls for heifer mating.
Two-year-old hereford bulls at Swap Agriculture’s sale averaged $2670 with one bull topping the sale at $3200. Two-year-old angus bulls made $2710, yearling hereford bulls sold for $2050, yearling angus bulls made $1990 and two-year-old jersey bulls sold for $1630.
Hillcroft’s spring bull sale at Ohinewai had a full clearance of yearling and two-year-old angus and hereford cattle. Vendor Fraser Crawford said the bulk of the buyers were dairy farmers who came from as far south as Taranaki and as far north as Kaikohe.
The sale’s 55 two-year-old angus bulls averaged $2781 and 26 angus yearling bulls sold for $1781. The 34 two-year-old hereford bulls averaged $2332.
PGG Wrightson agent Regan Craig said prices were consistently buoyant throughout the sale. Beef bred cattle prices lifted from last year, however, the jersey bulls sold for a slightly lower price.
The Bullseye service bull sale near Huntly had 210 two-year-old hereford bulls averaging $2515, 60 angus two and three year-old bulls $2310, 200 two-year-old jersey bulls $1682, 50 two-year-old friesian bulls $1684, 35 recorded cross-bred twoyear-old bulls $1653, 20 murray grey bulls $2043 and 15 red devon bulls $1933.
NZ Farmers livestock agent Bill Sweeney said jersey prices were back, but that was expected because this year supply was outstripping demand for that breed.
But angus and hereford bull prices lifted $100 and $150 a head respectively compared with last year while the other bull breed prices were on a par.
The sale was a reflection of the wider market and the continuation of high beef prices, he said.
‘‘Farming’s a cyclical business, we’re seeing that in the dairy industry but that’s starting to lift.’’
Good Globaldairytrade (GDT) results and a lift in the milk price was starting to flow through in dairy cow prices where there has been a substantial lift.
An in-milk 220 cow herd dispersal sale resulted in cows averaging $1780. The top cow at that sale made $4000 and if that sale had been two months earlier, that average would have been $1400-$1500, he said.
‘‘There’s definitely been a lift in values and there’s a genuine shortage of good cows out there.’’
Top end in-milk cows sell for up to $3500, while a more typical inmilk cow is $1800-$2200.