Central West NSW clean sweeps 2021 quarterly sheep & lamb purchases

A review of the regional purchasing habits through AuctionsPlus commercial sheep and lamb sales in the December quarter of 2021 has outlined a clear flock rebuilding trend, with the focus for the rebuild primarily driven through the Riverina and Central West NSW regions. Underpinned by the very wet year across many eastern regions, mild temperatures and an upbeat industry outlook, the national flock rebuild is set to continue at a significant pace into 2022.

From the historically low levels at the end of the 2019 drought, the flock rebuilding momentum has been the strongest through the traditional southern and central sheep and lamb producing regions of NSW during the past two years. In contrast, the growth rate through South Australia and Victoria have been more subdued, albeit still positive, with much of the NSW growth assisted by purchases from the southern states in 2021. The recent NSW purchasing trend has partly been a reversal of the AuctionsPlus purchasing data through the worst of the drought in 2018 and 2019, which showed that Victoria and South Australia purchased additional NSW breeding lines during the forced flock liquidation.

Annual sheep and lamb purchasing results for 2021 show that Central West NSW was the largest purchaser across each quarter, followed by the Riverina region in southern NSW. While online total sales for the year hit 3.6 million head, Central West NSW accounted for 23% of all sheep and lamb purchases online, followed by 15% from the Riverina and 8% and 7% for Southwest Victoria and Northwest Victoria, respectively. Rounding out the top five purchasing regions for 2021 was the Southern Tablelands and Monaro region of NSW, at 6.5%.

Breaking down the annual results into only ewe and breeder purchases, the dominance of Central West NSW is accentuated, along with the clear rebuilding focus. Of the 1.75 million assessed commercial breeder purchases through AuctionsPlus in 2021, Central West NSW accounted for 27%, Riverina 13%, followed by Southwest Victoria with 8%, Southern Tablelands and Monaro at 7% and the NSW Southwest Slopes and Plains 7%.

A quick review of the commercial lamb sales data for AuctionsPlus for the past year had Southwest Victoria as the clear number one, with just over 405,000 head of lambs, or 19% of total lamb sales. The Central West of NSW and the Riverina were next at 13% and 10%, respectively. One of the most notable movers for the past year in AuctionsPlus lamb sales was the volume out of South Australia, with both the Lower Southeast and Eastern Pastoral zones each making up 6% of sales.