Offering 2100 head of this year's '09-drop weaners, the lead drafts of Angus, Hereford and Euro-cross steers struggled in a price bracket of $580-$610 or an estimated 175-185c/kg (live).

The market’s top-priced steer pen was a yard of Australian Beef Composite steers sold by Michael and June Fitzpatrick, of Mansfield, that made $670.

The yarding’s second and third daft pens met a better inquiry.

These were mostly made $520 to $580 a head, or 175-200c/kg, with a small number of younger drop station-bred calves sold from $480-$530.

Buying support on the day was restricted and heavily reliant on the local area’s backgrounder restockers.

No large volume "out-of-region" operators competed, although a single King Island order snared a load of the low-dollar steers to underpin the market.

Inquiry for heifer weaners was similarly erratic.

The odd pen of well-breed heifers were selected and taken for breeding purposes, but apart from this the market mostly met a subdued trading range of $420 to $480 for most heifers irrespective of the weight.

The top-priced heifers were a yard of Hereford Shorthorn-cross beautifully bred Strawberry Roan cattle, that made $640 for John & Tim McCormack of Molesworth.