Weekly Sheep & Lamb Comments - Week ending Friday 2nd June

Commercial sheep and lamb listings dropped by 19% this week with 56,127 head offered. The market was again mixed as the smaller yarding and falling market struggled to entice buyers as selective purchasing was again present. Clearance fell 4 percentage points to 45% and Value Over Reserve slipped lower to average $6. Merino ewe lambs drew some interest this week, resulting in a perfect 100% clearance for the 2,330 head on offer, while crossbred lambs fell in value sharply. 

Table 1: AuctionsPlus National Weekly Sheep and Lamb Prices
Link 2: National Lamb Sale Results
Link 3: Tuesday National Sheep Sale Results
Report: Interactive Market Dashboard - NEW

As mentioned, crossbred lambs fell sharply this week, dropping $17 to average $96 for the 11,476 head offered and achieved a 41% clearance. From Woolsthorpe, S.W. Victoria, a line of 184 Jul/Aug 22’ drop mixed sex second cross store lambs averaging 42kg lwt sold for $113 to a buyer from South Australia.

Merino ewe lambs had a stronger week from the lows of last week, resulting in a 100% clearance and the category rising $6 to average $73/head. From Kingston, SA, six lines of a total 1,650 Jun/Jul ’22 drop Merino future breeder ewe lambs averaging 28kg lwt returned $63/head, or 226c/kg lwt.

SIL Merino ewes were flat after last week’s large falls, averaging $103/head for the 7,672 offering. From Wellington, NSW, a line of 348 Merino SIL ewes joined to White Suffolk rams, aged three years old and averaging 55kg lwt returned $137/head.

SIL Shedding breed ewes registered lower supply this week with 977 head and saw a 64% clearance rate and a price rise of $7 to average $182/head. From Murrumbateman, NSW, a line of 32 Apr/May ’22 drop Australian White SIL ewe lambs averaging 44kg lwt returned the top price of $230/head.

Note: Prices as at 5pm Thursday, 1st June 2023

Table 1: AuctionsPlus National Weekly Sheep and Lamb Prices

AuctionsPlus Interactive Sheep Market Report