THE driest winter that I can remember in this district has passed with the total for 2017 up to end of September being 225.5 millimetres, while the normal average for the first nine months is 475.6mm and last year’s total at this time was 751.2mm.
What a difference a year makes and how different paddock pastures and crops look this October.
The shining lights of commodity prices this year are wool and lambs, many locals that have had finishing feed in the form of winter crops or grain stored are selling finished lambs in excess of 600 cents a kilogram over-the-hook.
As there wasn’t a Dubbo sheep and lamb sale on Monday due to the public holiday I can only quote the previous Monday’s sale as an example where heavy new season’s lamb made to $154 and the tops of the old lambs reached $200 in a yarding of 21,800 lambs.
The market for unfinished lambs are selling at 300c/kg to 320c/kg (liveweight).
If you have the feed, lambs seem to be the stock to purchase.
While the mutton market has been getting cheaper over the last month, prime ewes and wethers are still making to $130 and $127 respectively even though the heavier end was most affected by the falls, mutton numbers are certainly not decreasing with 12,300 being penned.
The wool market is still holding its own with last week being one of consolidation.
The Northern Region Indicator closed at 1599c/kg (clean) a rise of 3c/kg, although rises of 10c/kg to 15c/kg occurred in selected Merino types this was offset by 10c/kg to 25c/kg falls in most of the crossbred types.
The cattle market, however, has been one of reduction in prices.
This has been mainly caused by continuing dry weather, reduced competition and the Australian dollar selling around the US80c mark.
Last Thursday at Dubbo 3800 cattle sold in the prime sale, good quality medium weight yearling feeder steers sold close to firm however secondary cattle were cheaper, heavy feeder steers fell 10c/kg to 20c/kg.
It is very difficult to receive a quote for feeder cattle from the larger feedlots and you may have to wait up to a month for any quote.
Last Thursday it took a very good bullock to make over 260c/kg to the processors although feeder buyers paid to 266c/kg.
If you have feed or you consider it is a good time to buy then purchasing steers between 230c/kg to 250c/kg (liveweight) may be possible if it remains dry.
Store market numbers remain limited with most unfinished steers being sent to prime markets where there is a little more competition.
