Almost a month earlier than the first draft last year, the first 13 cattle have been selected for slaughter this Thursday. The 11 heifers include three Angus, seven Herefords and one Limousin. The average weight of the group is around 530kg, ranging from 510kg up to 620kg.

While the average weight of this group is not overly heavy, they are fit for slaughter and delaying any further would only lead to some heifers going overfat which would lead to carcase penalties in the factory.

Two bullocks have also been drafted for slaughter, however the majority of bullocks are still a few weeks away from being fit.

The bullocks are now on 4kg/day concentrate while the heifers are on 3kg/day of a high energy 12% protein mix.

The next draft of cattle will likely be another fortnight away. However, a close eye will be kept on the heifers over the next week to 10 days as they can change quite quickly at this point of the production system.

Base price for this week’s kill is running 60c/kg ahead of the first kill last year.