Week Ending 04/05/18
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Dubbo agents and their clients have really mustered numbers for their first Prime Cattle sale for the month of May with a draw of 7214 head. No doubt when these numbers are finalised the tally will be considerably less as back markers in the draw tend to lose cattle.
Cattle arriving here at Dubbo now tend to be more localised than they were in the early part of the selling season.
The big convoys of road trains from the west appeared to have slowed considerably with a far greater percentage of the yarding apparently being drawn from a radius of 200 kilometres or less. These stats are being produced in the main by the local district not only having reduced fodder reserves but now facing the problem of no surface water.
Producers in some parts are now turning stock onto winter crops in an effort to salvage some benefit.
One breeder east of Binnaway has done exactly this putting a wedge of angus weaners on an oat crop which was rapidly failing. The same grazier still has paddocks of oats which at the present time look outstanding due to a one-off rain event and some excellent soil preparation.
Producers... are now turning stock onto winter crops...
- Bill Tatt
A recent rural news report that the writer heard suggested 90 per cent of NSW was in drought or on the borderline. The major difference between this drought and some of the previous ones we have endured is that producers provided they sell their production at the appropriate time are still being reasonably well paid.
The cattle market, sheep and lambs last week all showed very strong trends with the NLRS market reporter seeing some categories as much as 25 to 30c/kg stronger on suitable lines.
This brings to mind the fact that selling agents Christie and Hood last week saw their best pen of lambs realise $200.00 as did their top pen of mutton.
Don’t know that the writer has ever seen that before and the mutton were not secured by a restocker as some may suspect.
A recent Roy Morgan survey on super markets and fresh food purchases saw 50,000 people questioned including 12,000 supermarket shoppers etc. The survey in the fresh meat section included beef, chicken, lamb and pork. Both Woolworths and Coles showed gains in market share now accounting for 50.8 per cent of total sales. The survey suggests that Aldi now has 9.6 per cent market share which shows a slight gain on the previous survey. Unfortunately, the big losers appear to be our local butchers who in the last decade have seen their portion of the pie decline from 32 per cent of the fresh meat market to a figure which now stands at 24 per cent.
Another survey conducted by Neilsen Homescan show different percentages again for the various players but the trend lines all appear to be somewhat similar.