Weekly Sheep & Lamb Comments - 16.04.21

With a full trading week, the supply of lambs and sheep offered exclusively by AuctionsPlus rebounded to 80,588 head this week – with SIL Merino ewes and Merino wether lambs making up the two largest categories. Whilst the sellers increased their activity this week, buyers appeared to be more cautious, with the clearance rate across most of the main categories subdued, especially for selected breeding lines.

Given the limited supplies and disruptions of the past two weeks, any in depth analysis of week-on-week movements in price for April will be distorted. However, comparisons against the most recent full selling week, which was the week ending 26th March, should give a clearer indication of the market sentiment. As such, lamb prices this week are largely weaker on late March, with first cross ewe lambs, Merino ewe lambs and shedding lambs down $21, $19 and $33/head. Similarly, SIL Merino ewes are back $4/head over the past three weeks, while SM Merino ewes and SM first cross ewes are $12 and $62 lower. This week’s clearance rates for all lamb categories were also significantly lower than in the final week of March – which was bolstered by robust buyer demand in the wake of the widespread rain in late March.

The main feature of prices this week was a fall in all joined ewe categories, with the 11,202 head of SIL Merino ewes, at a 71% clearance rate, averaging $4 lower, at $261/head. Similarly, SIL first cross ewes averaged $18 lower, at $325/head – with a 67% clearance rate for the 2,580 head offered. An indicative sale saw 225 SIL Merino ewes out of Gilgandra NSW, averaging 56kg liveweight and 5.5 years old selling for $271/head – equating to 1011.2c/kg dressed.

For the lamb portion of the market, price trends were mixed, with both first cross ewes lambs and composite/other lamb categories falling $35 and $59/head, respectively. The most robust category for the week was Merino wether lambs, which registered an 87% clearance rate for the 19,170 head offered. In what appeared to be a well-balanced auction between buyers and sellers, the Merino wether lamb category averaged $3/head higher, at $149/head – and $2 higher on the final week of March. Right on the average, an indicative sale of 323 Merino wether lambs, out of Nagambie, Victoria – Jun-Jul 2020 drop, averaging 38.6/kg liveweight, sold to $149/head – or 892c/kg dressed.

NOTE: Prices are as at 5pm Thursday, 15 April 2021.

For more categories, please go to:

National AuctionsPlus Store Report - Sheep and Lamb
Sheep Averages 13/04/2021

To download this report in pdf - click here.