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With the approach of warm weather many southern cattle producers are tossing up if they will buy more livestock.
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Over the past few weeks Victorian, South Australian and Tasmanian producers have either travelled north to buy cattle, or gone to sales in Wagga, Barnawartha, Yea, Pakenham, Bairnsdale and other centres which have offered cattle that were trucked south.
Many of those buyers have been able to take advantage of an easing market.
Meat & Livestock Australia analysis shows that last week the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator dropped by 11 cents to 475c/kg, and this week it's down to 468c/kg.
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In South Australia that drop has been driven by the large numbers of lightweight young cattle coming south out of the state's drought stricken pastoral areas.
Producers in Victoria's southwest are also cautious about what the next few months will bring.
But Victoria's southern Gippsland has had a wet winter and the manager of Elders at Korumburra Rohan McCrae said the area looks like it'll have a good start to summer.
"Still just a little bit damp and growth has been a little bit slow," he said.
"Right now if they put too many cattle on they'll probably have a puddling issue at this stage, but its shaping up very well."
Mr McCrae said that promise of a good season means many in the area have the feed to stock up.
"They've been going as far as Bega, Barnawartha, Ballarat, Mortlake and even further," he said.
"The cattle have been coming to those markets from further north, so they've been able to buy out of those markets.
"There's guys who are buying those lighter calves and there are those that want a heavier steer but they haven't been able to do it earlier because the feedlot competition had been far too strong,.
"But just in the last couple of weeks the feedlots have pulled up a little bit, and it's given those guys a bit of an opportunity to go a little bit heavier."
MLA reports that offerings and buyer confidence has been stifled by the Bureau of Meteorology's latest three-month outlook which indicates a hot dry remainder of the year for much of the nation.
While southern Gippsland is looking like have a better start to summer than many other areas Mr McCrae said producers there are still keeping an eye on the weather.
"I think if the season holds they'll continue to buy cattle, but the season will dictate that," he said.