CATTLE prices have continued to slide due to a range of factors but there are positive signs coming into the winter season, according to Paul and Scollard livestock specialist Dan Ivone.
"There were a range of factors that were happening at the same time to cause the market to get dearer," he said.
"The drought and then the floods up north and then the fires caused cattle numbers to go down so that made the market dearer.
"Now it's going the other way and again, it's not just one factor, it's a lot of little things that are all happening, to my understanding.
"The constant rain we had meant pasture didn't grow as well as we wanted and therefore cattle didn't go as well as we thought.
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"Cattle need some heat and we only had a little in January which was warm enough to finish the cattle off.
"It's the same weather in South Australia and the bottom of NSW where it's become very dry so people aren't going to buy cattle because the feed isn't there.
"That then put pressure on the market with an over supply of cattle and abattoirs having trouble getting workers so the kills aren't as big and there's a fair bit of meat in cool storage so meat isn't moving as freely as it normally is."
Mr Ivone said another factor would be that America had a very dry season and have to kill their own stock instead of importing our meat.
"When they get rain over there that will have a positive impact on our market too," he said.
Mr Ivone said going forward there are positive signs that the market will return to normal.
"I think it will go back to how our season used to be, where we get some rain at the end of March and then you get the autumn break.
"Because of that you'll find there's less pressure to sell cattle and the market will pick up again.
"Restockers haven't been able to operate because they haven't made any money on cattle they bought last year in extreme prices so they're a bit gun shy.
"Going forward I don't think we'll see the big highs we saw last year, it will be an improvement on where it is now.
"Winter contracts won't look too bad for people who can finish cattle during the winter.
"The signs are that it should be alright."
