PRIME sheep and lamb sale supply has been up and down like a rollercoaster during the past month mainly due to rain and graziers being unable to move stock.
The result has been a mixed bag when it comes to prices, particularly for the mutton which has been up one week and down the next.
This week The Land’s Mutton Indicator dipped to 385 cents a kilogram (carcase weight), returning much of the price gains it made the week before.
Restocker lambs on the other hand, have been falling in price for several weeks and on Tuesday The Land’s Feeder Lamb Indicator settled on 517c/kg.
Trade lambs also recorded negative trends and slipped to an average of 618c/kg.
That’s about 10c/kg cheaper than last week and 30c/kg less than a month ago.
In the limited number of store sales, supply has also been tight. Just 2800 head were offered at Narromine last week due to plenty of rain in the lead up to the sale.
On AuctionsPlus, the story was a little more promising as Merino ewes were in better supply leading to intense bidding activity from restockers as they fought to source replacement breeders. Richard Ridge and Anna Adams from AuctionsPlus said young Merino ewe prices ranged from $100 to $173 averaging $153.
The tops were a tidy line of two-year-old Bogo-blood ewes, from Binalong which were scanned-in-lamb to Border Leicester rams.
Merino ewes and lambs were also hot property on AuctionsPlus. Mr Ridge and Ms Adams reported numbers came from far and wide with bidders competing fiercely.
Prices averaged $204 with the tops making $240, for two lines of two-year-old Glendemar MPM blood ewes with sappy 22kg Poll Dorset lambs at foot. These unjoined mums were from Bealiba in Victoria.
Cattle market powers higher
YOUNG cattle prices pushed even higher this week and the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI) hit 661.25 cents a kilogram (carcase weight).
It still amazes me that prices can continue to climb.
On reflection, it was only a year ago that the EYCI was trading about the 550c/kg mark and we all thought that was a really high price.
On Monday the dearest young cattle market was at Wagga Wagga were the vealers and yearlings averaged 690c/kg. Forbes and Tamworth’s markets were also high and averaged about the 660c/kg mark. The difference was that Forbes was about 14c/kg dearer than last week, while Tamworth took a major downward price correction of about 20c/kg.
Cancelled sales at Roma and Gracemere in Queensland last week may also have helped push up the market as buyers looked elsewhere to fill orders.
