The weekly commercial AuctionsPlus National sheep and lamb sales held on Tuesday, January 11, had a total of 77,808 head offered across the two sales - an increase of 91% from last week and 17% higher than year-on-year levels.
The National lamb sale had a total of 43,993 head offered across 142 lots. Crossbred, Merino wether and first cross ewe lambs made up most of the catalogue this week, accounting for 66%, 14% and 8% of listings, respectively.
Southwest Victoria continued to see a steady flow of new season lambs onto the market this week, with listings from the region totaling 18,376 head. NSW offerings accounted for 33% of the offering, with the Northern Tablelands, Riverina and Central West contributing the majority of the numbers.
Shedding breed lambs were hotly contested this week, with two lines totaling 165 head of Nudie/Australian White/Dorper future breeder ewe lambs from Toolondo, Victoria. The Jun/Jul ’21 drop lambs, averaged 40.5kg lwt and returned $426/head – selling $186 over their reserve price.
The National sheep sale had a total of 33,815 head listed across 164 lots this week. The sale attracted a total of 1,360 logins and 13,811 catalogue views. Total clearance levels following the sale were 73%.
NSM ewes made up 46% of the sheep sale, with 15,687 head on offer - largely consisting of older ewes, as producer’s turnover their flocks in preparation for joining. A standout line of 443 Bundilla blood maiden NSM merino ewes from Young NSW, which averaged 59.5kg liveweight, returned $430/head.
Figure 1: Liveweight distribution (at assessment) across each lamb category.