Sheep values rocket

Mutton was averaging 334 cents a kilogram last week, far ahead of the 160c/kg to 170c/kg range it had at this time last year.

Norman C. Bellamy agent Damien Stephenson, Cowra, said the prices meant older ewes were selling well, which was helping convince producers to offload some of their underperforming ewes in particular.

“There are a lot of old sheep in the system that need culling,” Mr Stephenson said.

The prices for both ewes and wethers started picking up at the end of February, before spiking sharply by the end of March, he said.

“It really fired up in the past three or four weeks... you went from about 250c/kg to 350c/kg for your heavy sheep,” he said.

“A lot of blokes held off (from selling) until February, when the price picked up.”

Aside from older ewes, Mr Stephenson said wethers were also highly sought after.

In Dubbo, Richardson and Sinclair principal, Scott Sinclair, said the current mutton price was great for producers, especially compared to the prices from last year.

“It’s a great turnaround,” he said.

Mr Sinclair said supply for both sheep and lambs had been steady rather than high in Dubbo, perhaps because producers had already destocked during the drought, and so did not have enough animals left to sell in great numbers even with the high prices.

He said the demand for heavy export wethers was particularly strong.

In the south of the State wethers were also doing well.

“People are getting more than $130 for their wethers, and into the $120s for crossbred ewes,” said G.J. Hulm agent Isaac Hill, Wagga Wagga.

“I don’t think the price rise is good enough for anybody to cross over (from focusing on prime lambs to mutton), but for those already into wethers, they’re getting a pretty handy rate,” he said.

“The whole mutton job is going well.”

Mr Hill said the numbers of wethers and ewes on the market would probably drop off leading into winter, which should keep the prices reasonably high.

“I think the price will remain solid,” he said.

Mr Stephenson agreed the numbers of wethers and ewes on sale would probably slow heading into winter, but thought it might prove a negative to the industry as a whole if prices continued to rise.

“We don’t want to price ourselves out of the market, especially for export,” Mr Stephenson said.

“I would like to see the price for both lamb and mutton settle down a bit.”

Mr Stephenson’s concern for high prices affecting export potential was especially relevant for older sheep, with 96 per cent of the mutton produced in Australia being exported, according to Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA).

MLA estimated mutton exports totalled $511 million in the past financial year.

Domestic expenditure on mutton was $41.4 million in the same time period.

DOUG Coble has never seen a better price for his wethers.

That is saying a lot, since the third-generation sheep and wool producer has been selling them for decades.

Mr Coble, “Davey’s Creek,” Boorowa, sold about 120 two- and three-year-old wethers at the sheep and lamb sale in Cowra last week and was delighted with the result.

“I’m very happy... I got about $110 for February-shorn wethers,” he said.

“I’ve never got a price like that before.”

Mr Coble said the “big increase” in the price of mutton was great news for people selling older sheep.

“Now’s the time to let them go,” he said.

Mr Coble runs sheep for both meat and wool at his property and sells wethers and prime lambs for the meat side of the business.

Meat and Livestock Australia reported mutton numbers remained steady and quality was fair at the Cowra sale last Friday.

Heavy first-cross ewes were $8 a head dearer and averaged $94, and medium wethers were as much as

$10 dearer and averaged $82.40.

The average for large wethers weighing more than 24.1kg was $110.