Boost in supply of lambs met with mixed competition

A total of 45,000 lambs were yarded at Wagga Wagga last Thursday and Elders agent Henry Booth said it was unseasonable with numbers coming through later than expected.

"People have offloaded some of their excess and obviously they were waiting for a rain," he said.

"They get on the tractor so they do something to get their livestock out of the way so they can get on to their cropping program but a few are from the recent price kick we saw and they are trying to cash in on that."

Mr Booth said there was an increase in the supply of store and feeder lambs with buyers from Victoria, central west and the local area.

"That has been met with more competition that they would've been met with three weeks ago so that's probably going in their favour," he said.

Mr Booth said there was also a good yarding of heavy lambs.

"Buyers were a little bit selective - they are probably in a position where they can be fussy and that means they like them neat as a pin being well shorn with a nice skin so they're presented properly," he said.

"Those are the ones that are receiving the premium."

Mr Booth said heading into winter supply is expected to become tighter.

"We've seen some contracts out from processors suggesting they are a little bit worried," he said.

"The contracts have come out of a little bit earlier than they normally would so they want to secure some of that supply earlier."

Yarding numbers were up at Dubbo on Monday and Cleve Olsen, C Olsen Agencies, said he expected them to tighten up again next week with prices down across the board.

"The supply is only as good as the demand," he said.

"We had 20,000 lambs but next week we might only have 10,000.

"I don't believe there's a lot of lambs around and I think when we get in to the middle on winter they'll find there's a shortage of lambs."

Mr Olsen said most were light to medium lambs, as well as a few lines of heavy lambs.

"The bidding was tough enough," he said.

"The heavy lambs should have been making a lot more money. I think they're only operating day to day at the moment."

There was a slight increase in lamb numbers at Tamworth and Meat and Livestock Australia reported quality was the major contributor to price changes with trends varied.

MLA reported the heavy weights sold to strong competition and a dearer trend, while restockers were cheaper but quality was only fair.