HEAVY lambs and restocker ewes - that's where the auction action has been most exciting as sales kick off after the new year holidays.
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While trade lamb categories were firm to slightly cheaper at most NSW sales, demand for heavy lambs has pushed up prices when compared with December values.
The NSW Heavy Lamb Indicator settled on 802 cents a kilogram (carcase weight) early this week - a lift of 16c/kg on a week earlier and 23c/kg on the close of markets in December.
Likewise, money for first-cross ewes has flowed during early special sales.
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MCC Chudleigh Dobell agent Adam Chudleigh, Forbes, said well finished lambs with good cover and shape sold very well at the prime sale on Tuesday at Forbes.
"Anything that was properly finished from 18 to 26 kilograms was dearer than last week," he said.
"But there was a massive price difference for the secondary lambs that didn't have the right fat cover or shape.
"Those lambs were 100c/kg to 200c/kg cheaper."
He said the main reason for the price gap was too many secondary lambs available.
"The butchers want the lambs with the best yield, so that's why they are paying the money for the lambs that have been presented properly for sale," he said.
"Quality is never cheap and cheap quality is never good."
That adage was also evident at the Forbes annual first-cross ewe sale last week where ewe lambs topped at $350 a head.
Meanwhile, 62 well grown first-cross ewes 100pc scanned-in-lamb to Poll Dorset rams topped at $404. The one-and-a-half-year-old, December-shorn and mulesed ewes were due to lamb in autumn.
Forbes agents said the prices didn't match those of the record high ones in 2022, but from a historical perspective, the prices were still very good for those breeders with well prepared and bred ewes.
"We are seeing those breeders who consistently do a really good job with their sheep being rewarded with the better prices now," Mr Chudleigh said.
Joe Wilks, Wilks and McKean Livestock and Property, Wagga Wagga, said the prime sale at Wagga opened cheaper and was a buyers' market for those who wanted to have a go at restocker light lambs.
"The heavy lamb has been good, but there have not been many yarded," he said.
As a result, he said there was good competition on the heavy lambs from export processors.
"The buyers have been more conservative on the trade and light lambs and for traders the market has been tricky," he said.
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