AuctionsPlus commercial sheep and lamb listings fell 6% to 78,266 head this week. The smaller offering was met with mixed competition as clearance fell by 5 percentage points to 45%. Price Over Reserve increased by $12 to average $18 across all listings.
Crossbred Lamb prices rose 15% this week with the crossbred lamb indicator shifting from $98/head to $113/head. The ARLI fell 48c to average 500c/kg lwt. Lamb prices rose across all categories except Shedders which fell by $16/head on average. Joined Ewes and Non Station-Mated stock had a mixed performance against last week. Shedder Breed Ewes jumped $112 a head while Scanned-In-Lamb (SIL) Merino ewes fell by $35/head, although SIL Merinos numbers were over three times greater than the week before.
Sheep and lambs were traded between NSW, QLD, SA and VIC. Listings fell in NSW and VIC but rose in SA. Purchases fell in SA, VIC and NSW but were marginally higher in QLD compared with last week. Processors purchased 1622 lots and were active across Merino wether and Crossbred lamb markets.
Table 1: AuctionsPlus National Weekly Sheep and Lamb Prices
Report: Interactive Market Dashboard
Crossbred Lambs registered a smaller offering in head, with prices increasing $16 on last week to average $113/head for a 79% clearance. From Illabo, NSW a line of 635 Poll Dorset/Poll Merino mixed sex lambs dropped in Aug/Oct '23 and weighing 35kg lwt made $123/head, or 348c/kg lwt.
The 20,109 Merino wether lambs offered this week more than doubled the 8,619 offered last week. Prices achieved were nominally higher ($3) but clearance rose 8 percentage points to 54% as both buyers and sellers came to the table with intent this week. Notably, a line of 250 Merino/Merino wethers born in Jun/July 2023 and weighing 29kg lwt on average achieved $77/head or 263c/kg lwt. These will be making a short trip from Yass, NSW to Goulburn, NSW.
3,495 Merino Ewe Hoggets were offered this week, down 43% from the 6,135 offered last week. Prices fell sharply, falling $43 to $54/head on average. It didn't help clearance however, which only managed 14% compared with 52% last week. This week’s low clearance across a smaller market offering reflects a mismatch between sellers reserves and buyer’s willingness to pay.
Note: Prices as at 5pm Thursday, 29th February 2024
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