There was a record of 3800 head of cattle that went under the hammer at Kempsey Regional Saleyards in a 13-hour selling marathon that went late into the night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
Kempsey Stock and Land's feature weaner sale smashed the previous record by 900 head.
Heavier weaners more than 300 kilograms were firm to 10 cents a kilogram dearer while heifers were up to 40c/kg dearer than what they had fetched in the past week on the coast.
A pen of seven Angus steers, offered by John Brady, Belmore, topped the sale weighing 341kg that sold for 420c/kg, or $1434 that went to Walgett for backgrounding.
Geoff Gosling, Macksville, sold 42 Angus weaners with steers making between 370c/kg and 415c/kg for cattle respectively weighing 258kg and 204kg while his heifers ranged from 215c/kg to 235c/kg for his weaners weighing 165kg and 240kg.
"We've had a great season the past couple of months, the market has picked up to what it was three months ago," Mr Gosling said, who has been breeding for 20 years and selling weaners at this time every year.
"They went pretty good, I wasn't too far off the mark with the steers but the heifers were way down to what the market is.
"I was over ambitious to what I thought they would make, anything that had weight made a bit more, which it seemed to be the way people were buying.
"Angus was the flavour of the month, they always seemed to be on top."
Other sale highlights included John and Vickye McKechnie, Dondingalong, who sold Angus weaners (weight 276kg) for 445.2c/kg, or $1228 that are headed to Walgett for backgrounding.
Weaners (averaging weight of 310kg) that also went to Walgett were sold by Gayle Rowe, Manning, for 445.2c/kg, $1380.
Raymond and Robyn Clarke, Nulla, sold 22 Angus weaners for 445.2c/k, or $1162 to Bottlejack Trading, Tamworth.
Ricky and Kylie Nicholson, Kinchela, had the best pen of heifers (average weight 320kg), which sold for 282.c/kg, or $904, that went to Powerhouse, Gunnedah.
Mr Nicholson said the cattle sold reasonably well but prices were "getting tough" towards the end of the sale.
"Our steers average 331kg bought $1247 while heifers average 329kg bought $904, the heifers were down on last year as there was a lot of cattle," Mr Nicholson said.
Mr Nicholson changed from selling bullocks to cows and calves two years ago due in search of better prices.
"Sourcing bullocks was expensive so we switched to weaners because that's where the money is," he said.
The Dowling Partnership from Austral Eden sold Charolais cross heifers, weighing 336kg for 306.2c/kg ($1029.60) that went to Tamworth while Euroka's Ron Warwick sold the same breed for 308.2/kg, or $924.60 at an average weight of 300kg.
Ian McGoldrick from Kempsey Stock and Land, said it was a big sale due to the arrival of winter and the wet weather that the region had experienced in the past few weeks.
"A lot of the Macleay and Manning is wet, the season has changed," Mr McGoldrick said.
"People are well aware we are going to have a wet winter especially on lower country so it was better to move cattle on now than in a couple of months while they are still in good condition and blooming."
Mr McGoldrick said good quality cattle sold well including Angus weaners, which were dearer than what they had seen in the past couple of weeks.
Most of the buyers were from Northern Tablelands, Walgett, Lightning Ridge and Condobolin as well as Queensland.
