Dubbo has topped a cattle survey on NSW saleyard activities for the 2016/17 financial year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The latest survey for NSW, Victoria and Queensland on saleyard activities was released recently.
Dubbo has been NSW’s No 1 over the last three recording seasons with current figures of 199,431 head. Wagga and Carcoar retain their positions at 2 and 3.
Casino coming in at No 4 (119,572 head) is gaining ground – up from No 7 two years ago. The Yass complex, in its first full year of operation, is No 7 (66,062) which it must view as a terrific result.
Forbes currently resides at No 9 falling from No 5 two recording seasons ago. Scone rounds out the top 10 at 59,119 cattle.
In Victoria, Wodonga with 184,588 wins. Leongatha is No 2 (127,914). Shepparton (96,662) and Echuca (31,875) are newcomers to the list and are 5 and 10 respectively.
Roma in Queensland maintains the top position for that state and for Eastern Australia with 310,525 head, Dalby is 2nd with 209,094, Gracemere with tidy figures of 132,034 rounds out the top 3.
Toowoomba comes in at No 10 with 47,339 having fallen from 6 last year.
The only sheep figures that we have to hand are from NSW, which has Wagga Wagga on top with 1,658,162 head, Dubbo 2nd at 1,437,030, Forbes is at 3 with Yass once again in its first reporting season coming in 4th with what I would consider a very satisfying 693,594, Carcoar has fallen from 5th to 7th.
Cowra (339,021), Tamworth (211,767) and Guyra (177,301) finalise the top 10.
Last week’s column mentioned that the Greenham family had purchased the old Tabro works at Moe from a Chinese consortium, the Hengyang Group.
The 2015 and 2016 seasons provided some hard and bitter lessons for overseas companies investing in the Australian red meat industry. The volatility of cattle prices, the often non-existent price margins when cattle prices jump off the page will continue to cause plenty of concern for new players in this industry ... as it does on a regular basis for old long-term members of the processing industry.
As an indication of the pricing problem faced by the Hengyang Group we see boner dairy cows realising 200 to 210c/kg dressed weight when the company purchased the works in 2014.
By the end of 2015 the going price for the same article in the South had reached a number north of 400c/kg dressed and still rising.
The company had also purchased a small plant at Lance Creek. Over the brief period of ownership Hengyang spent in excess of $13 million on new technology and upgrades at the plants.
The Hengyang Group has 12 operating plants in China with a large number of sales outlets. The company also has substantial interests in beef processing in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.
No price has yet been disclosed on the sale to Greenham’s.
Dubbo agents scanned 2940 cattle at their prime cattle sale on Thursday, October 26. Quality was of a high standard with less plainer cattle available.
