AuctionsPlus Cattle Breed Breakdown – How Did Your Breed Perform in Q4 2022?

AuctionsPlus is Australia’s largest cattle market, with record throughput for the past twelve months of 829,022 head (1 January 2022 – 31 December 2022).

In the most recent December quarter, AuctionsPlus had 196,328 head offered online, with a backlog of cattle hitting the market - delayed by widespread rain and extensive flooding in previous months.

The AuctionsPlus Insights team has broken down the average prices for the top ten listed breeds in 2022. Breeds included are Angus, Brahman, Brangus, Charbray, Charolais, Droughtmaster, Friesian, Hereford, Santa Gertrudis and Shorthorn.

Quarter three of 2022 registered the first significant decline in average quarterly cattle prices in over two years, largely due to exotic disease concerns. Prices started to recover through Spring, before slipping again under the weight of higher supply, sliding to levels not seen since the first half of 2021.  

While varying across breeds and categories, most of the lines for the December quarter averaged from five to ten per cent below the same period in 2021.

Three selected breeds and categories are briefly described below. For the full price series across the ten breeds:

Hereford Steers 280-330kg lwt 

• Hereford steers weighing 280-330kg lwt averaged $1,989/head in the December quarter of 2022 – 7.7% above the previous quarter but 7.6% below the corresponding quarter in 2021.
• Overall, prices for pure Hereford categories in the December quarter of 2022 have fallen an average of 8.4% from the same quarter of 2021. 
  

Droughtmaster Heifers 200-280kg lwt

• Droughtmaster heifers weighing 200-280kg lwt averaged $1,363/head in the fourth quarter of 2022 – 15.8% lower than the same period in 2021.
• Across all categories, Droughtmaster prices had risen 3.1% from the previous quarter but fell 10.8% from the same quarter in 2021.

Angus PTIC Heifers

• In the December quarter of 2022, AuctionsPlus listed Angus PTIC heifers averaged $3,050/head – a decrease of 2.7% on the same period in 2021.
• Overall, average prices for purebred Angus cattle have risen 4.8% from the previous quarter, while they remain 4.4% lower than the corresponding quarter in 2021.
  .