Prices firm on crossbred lambs and down for Merino wether lambs

Burgess Rural, Henty, sold these crossbred lambs to $82.

AuctionsPlus commercial sheep and lamb numbers remained steady last week at 70,078, a slight decrease on the previous  week’s offering.

Clearance climbed back up, rising by 7 percentage points to finish the week at 69%, while the overall market registered cheaper trends with all lamb categories reducing in value, and only a handful of other categories seeing green ink. Value over reserve fell by $1 to average $7 above set reserves.

The week’s offering was made up mainly of lambs, registering a 19% increase on the previous week at 50,767 head, while all other stock categories fell, with the NSM ewe offering back 30% from last week at 15,428 head, which was driven by a smaller yarding of Merino ewe hoggets and ewes.

New season lambs accounted for 47,267 head this week, the highest number for 2023, with the offering seeing stronger than the average demand at a 73% clearance rate. Prices averaged $58/head for the new seasons, falling by $1 from last week.

Crossbred lambs registered a larger offering at 27,802 head, as prices remained firm on last week at $62/head with a 74% clearance.

From Henty, NSW two even lines of 650 Poll Dorset/Border Leicester/Merino Jun/Jul ’23 mixed sex lambs weighing 39kg lwt both returned $82/head, or 210c/kg.

Merino wether lambs registered a smaller offering with 9,953 head, with prices decreasing by $7 on last week to average $36/head.

Demand was strong for the offering, with 93% of the listings securing a buyer. From Yass, NSW a line of 470 Merino wether lambs Aug/Sep ’22 drop and weighing 37kg lwt returned $73/head, or 198c/kg and will travel to a buyer in Coleraine, VIC.

Merino ewe hogget numbers fell back by 54% this week to see 5,759 head offered. The smaller yarding was met with some stronger competition, with prices increasing $11 to average $101/head. From Condobolin, NSW a line of 231 Poll Merino 15 to 16 months old ewes weighing 78kg returned $166/head.

-AuctionsPlus