FEEDLOTS across the eastern states are booked weeks in advance as big numbers start to come forward from dry parts of Northern New South Wales and Queensland.

Buyers who spoke to Beef Central this morning were quoting 400kg+ flatback feeder steers between 440-460c/kg, with most of those yards now either taking bookings for the last week of May or the start of June. That is a drop of about 10c.

One large multi-site lotfeeder on the Darling Downs was offering no quote on either flatbacks or Angus.

Angus prices have dropped about 10c, with southern buyers quoting between 520-525c/kg – one quote in the north was given at 490c/kg.

With New South Wales having its ANZAC Day public holiday today, there are no sales at Tamworth and Wagga. Roma has 6366 on the draw tomorrow and Gunnedah has 6710.

According to Meat & Livestock Australia’s feeder steer indicator, saleyard feeder prices were reasonably steady last week. The indicator dropped 2c and the 400kg+ section dropped 4c to 453c and 465c respectively.

In conversations this morning, there was plenty of talk about the impact of the drought in Northern NSW and Southern Qld.

Big numbers have been consistently coming out of that area for most of this year and the area of oats crops is likely to be down on in normal years – which could impact weights in the second half of the year.

Prominent NSW cattle trader Joe Kerin told last week The Week in Beef podcast that dry conditions meant they had decided not trade cattle this year.

One southern lotfeeder told Beef Central that a lot of producers in southern NSW and Northern Victoria are selling heavy feeders and buying lighter store cattle in.

He said there was a good trading opportunity with young cattle currently cheaper than feeder cattle on a c/kg basis and that a lot of producers in that area are still looking for another shower to get them through winter – so backgrounding feeder cattle was a smaller commitment than taking heavy feeders to grassfed bullocks.

The Bureau of Meteorology has some rain on the forecast for Southern NSW and Victoria this week. It also has some rain forecast for the New England region of NSW, which is now starting to run out of water.