Within seconds the first pen had fallen. Within minutes the sweat was dripping from the auctioneer’s forehead as Corcoran Parker’s first stand-alone premier special store cattle sale opened the annual blue ribbon weaner sales at Barnawartha.

“It was getting a bit warm up there but we bowled through them,” said Leigh McEvoy, who took over the auctioneering duties midway through the near 3000-head sale.

“It seemed to be pretty strong, there was competition.

“There was people from different parts, the north and south, and a few local buyers which made it pretty interesting.”

The day one sale saw 2763 steers, heifers and grown cattle pass through the yards, with a pen of steers offered by Tim Willis, “Pelican Point”, Table Top topping the sale at $1490 a head. His pen of 16-month-old heifers sold for $1250 a head.