As the Australian cattle market dominated the headlines in 2021, the performance of the Australian shedding sheep market was hot on its heels, as record prices through the category became commonplace.
After a subdued period through the previous drought, the popularity of all types of shedding sheep has accelerated in recent years, with many producers deciding to restock on the back of the wet conditions with “shedders”. Attracted by the well-publicized benefits of the breed, including meat quality, reduced maintenance and the obvious, lack of shearing, AuctionsPlus pure shedding breed listings in 2021 reached 215,716 head – making up 12% of the annual total.
The “star” of the record price for shedding breeds in recent years has been the Australian White breed, which has experienced a rapid rise in both online listings and price. With the breaking of drought conditions in 2020, the interest in the breed started to explode, with online listings up 55% in 2020. In 2021 listings continue to increase, with 60,462 head offered and price records continually broken as buyers competed fiercely to secure lines of Australian White genetics.
Listing regions for shedding breed lines in 2021 was dominated by NSW, with the state listing 142,265 head, 53% of the overall offering. Western NSW was the highest listing region for the category, offering 55,072 head to the online platform, followed closely by Western Queensland with 41,785 head.
Looking to purchasing regions for the category in 2021, 49% of all lot sold remained in NSW, with the largest purchasing region for the breed being Southern Queensland, which secured 42,732 head, closely followed by Central Western NSW with 40,700 head.
Driving the growth in popularity for shedding sheep has been the steady rise in prices, for both lambs and ewes, reaching highs in late 2021. The Australian White breed took out the highest price mantle, finishing the year with the top priced commercial and stud ewe lots offered in the AuctionsPlus weekly sales; a line of five-year-old SIL Australian White ewes returning $1,470/head, while a line of 1.5-year-old SIL Australian White ewes hold the stud ewe record selling for $5,275/head.
Quarter one of 2022 has seen 107,289 head offered across all shedding breed categories, an increase of 25% on the same time last year.
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