![Jess, Bridie and Kelly Davidson, Gordon Davidson and Mark Wemyss with the champion pen of feeder steers at the Blackall Show sale. Picture: Sally Gall Jess, Bridie and Kelly Davidson, Gordon Davidson and Mark Wemyss with the champion pen of feeder steers at the Blackall Show sale. Picture: Sally Gall](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/88uitQDCBZnXA8enwGJ5Zd/222f6b09-dbf4-4f60-8ba6-d371fbf615cf.jpg/r0_0_3201_2402_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Prices up to 30 cents over the going rate were an indication of the quality of the cattle penned for the first Blackall Show sale in over a decade, on Thursday morning.
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The sale, held with the support of the Barcoo Pastoral Society's 150th show that gets underway on Friday afternoon, saw 1100 head filling pens as part of the weekly cattle sale.
The six classes gave judge Nathan Burey plenty of work, especially in the feeder steer 350-500kg class, which was ultimately won by Davidson Livestock, Cheshire, Tambo.
The family entered two pens of Santa Gertrudis steers in the class, along with a pen of heavy ox, and 11 head for the prime heifer section.
The 15-18 month milk tooth steers, weighing 499kg, brought 340c/kg.
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"We've tried to support all the shows out here the last few years - Tambo, Blackall, Alpha - when numbers were down - we think it's important to get behind these things," Gordon Davidson said.
"All those pens were very good quality, just different colours and weights - it would have been pretty hard for the judge to pick winners."
His son-in-law Mark Wemyss said it had also been good to bring their cattle in and see how they stacked up against the competition.
They'd drafted on uniformity, concentrating on pens that had matching qualities.
Mr Davidson said that with prices bouncing round so much at sales this year, they'd found it hard to know what to expect but accepted that the market was generally going back.
![Tim Ludgate, Ruthven, Isisford, and his winning pen of Angus-Droughtmaster cross prime heifers. Picture: Sally Gall Tim Ludgate, Ruthven, Isisford, and his winning pen of Angus-Droughtmaster cross prime heifers. Picture: Sally Gall](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/88uitQDCBZnXA8enwGJ5Zd/f3b4f80e-3ff1-45b7-88f4-e77abae6b11b.jpg/r0_0_3946_2960_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Tim Ludgate, who's based at Ruthven in the Isisford district and who operates Barcoo Pastoral Agencies, sent in Angus Droughtmaster-cross females for the prime heifer class to support the initiative and was pretty surprised when they claimed the blue ribbon from the judge.
Weighing 568.8kg, they sold for 298.2c/kg or $1696.01 a head.
Mr Ludgate said they were heifers that had preg tested empty.
"We put Brangus bulls over the Droughmaster/Angus cross - we find we keep the fertility and softness that way," he said.
![John Cameron, Romulus, Blackall and his prize-winning pen of weaner heifers. Picture: Sally Gall John Cameron, Romulus, Blackall and his prize-winning pen of weaner heifers. Picture: Sally Gall](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/88uitQDCBZnXA8enwGJ5Zd/790b9392-eac1-4391-9d44-e54f6ef1e7c5.jpg/r0_379_3481_2336_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Long-time Blackall cattle producers John and Nell Cameron were awarded the prize in the weaner heifer class with a line of mostly Santa Gertrudis weaners, with some Charolais-cross heifers included, receiving 288c/kg for them.
They also entered steers for competition, weighing 490kg and bringing 350c/kg.
It's the first time they've entered cattle into a show sale, with Mr Cameron saying they were part of their normal turn-off that would usually have been sold in Blackall's monthly weaner sale the previous week.
They switched from Shorthorn to Santa Gertrudis cattle around 20 years ago, saying the breed had developed well in their eyes, and suited the country.
The Russell family at Mt Macquarie, east of Blackall, won the feeder heifer class with their pen of Simmental females that sold for 270c/kg, the Tindall family at Gaza, west of Isisford received 370c/kg for their winning Angus-cross weaner steer pen, and Philip and Ricky Walker, Westhill, Blackall showed the winning prime steers with a Santa Gertrudis pen that went on to make 318c/kg.
![The winning pen of prime steers, from Westhill, Blackall, showing off their best attributes. Picture: Sally Gall The winning pen of prime steers, from Westhill, Blackall, showing off their best attributes. Picture: Sally Gall](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/88uitQDCBZnXA8enwGJ5Zd/1365ae5b-2f46-46a2-84fe-d2f6b52632ad.jpg/r0_505_3201_2305_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Show society steward Cody Trost said it had been a great result.
"We think a lot of people breed good cattle in this part of the world, so we were keen to get them all in one spot and show them off a little bit," he said.
"I think it showed there today; the market was really strong on the good cattle.
"The best bullocks got to 322 or 334c/kg, which is very strong, heavy feeders were making just over 360c/kg, the best of them, which is excellent, and a lot of those steers were making 345-50c/kg, which is about the going rate."
Mr Trost said the heifer market was tough everywhere at the moment but the ones entered in the show sale made close to 300c/kg, and the bigger feeder heifers had sold for up to 280c/kg, which was up to 30 cents dearer than what was paid for lines outside the show sale.
![Some of the feeder heifer class winners entered by the Russell family, Mt Macquarie, Blackall. Picture: Sally Gall Some of the feeder heifer class winners entered by the Russell family, Mt Macquarie, Blackall. Picture: Sally Gall](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/88uitQDCBZnXA8enwGJ5Zd/f8a784dd-1d05-46dc-bf46-233525fae18c.jpg/r0_246_3463_2193_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"And the cow job in our show sale could have been 10 cents stronger than in the other cattle, so it was very strong," he said.
Cattle were entered from Blackall, Isisford, Longreach, Aramac, Tambo and Alpha districts.
Mr Trost said judge Nathan Burey had been buying cattle in the central west for Teys for 10 or more years, and had a good idea of what cattle in the area could do.
A percentage of the proceeds will go back to the Barcoo Pastoral Society, which plans to use the money to improve the yards for its commercial cattle section.
The whole sale saw 2250 head yarded and most lines eased 20c/kg on average.
Show sale results
- CLASS 1. PRIME STEER - Walker family, Westhill, Blackall
- CLASS 2. PRIME FEMALE - Ludgate family, Ruthven, Blackall
- CLASS 3. FEEDER STEER 350-500 Kg - Davidson Livestock, Cheshire, Tambo
- CLASS 4. FEEDER HEIFER 350-500 Kg- Russell family, Mt Macquarie, Blackall
- CLASS 5. WEANER STEER up to 350kg - Tindall family, Gaza Grazing, Longreach
- CLASS 6. WEANER HEIFER - Cameron family, Romulus, Blackall