Lambs prices improve by up to $20/head at Bendigo
- By: "Farm Tender" News
- Ag Tech News
- Feb 03, 2020
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This article is bought to you by Wallaloo Park.
Yarding - 27,000 (+12,000).
Lambs - 18,000 (+9000).
Sheep - 9000 (+3000).
Lamb numbers increased to 18,000 as selling resumed following last week's break for Australia Day. Quality was again very mixed for quality and fat cover, although there was a reasonable selection of supplementary fed crossbred and Merino lambs available. Competition was keener, and for the first time at Bendigo this year, all the key export and domestic processors purchased stock. Prices were dearer, a lot of lambs improving by $10 to $20/head compared to a fortnight ago. However, buyers were still selective on secondary stock and plainer lambs didn't record such healthy price gains. The auction also had a hot bidding patch late in the market, with early sales not as buoyant. The market reached a top of $305/head, which is the first time since last winter that dollar per head results have pushed into this tier.
The market peak of $305 was for extra heavy shorn lambs given a conservative dress weight of 40kg cwt. The next best sale was $292, but the bulk of the big export lambs over 30kg cwt sold from $240 to $275/head to average an estimated 780c/kg. A major domestic processor pushed into stock with more weight and the heavy 26 to 30kg cwt lambs sold from $210 to $260, with the best fat score 3 and 4 categories averaging from $220 to $230/head. The pick of the nicely weighted trade lambs, 22 to 24kg cwt, sold from $183 to $208/head. It was estimated that a good run of processor lambs with weight and finish were costing processors from 780c to 820c/kg cwt. Not a lot of well-bred light weight lambs to suit restockers and MK kill orders, and pens which suited sold strongly at $135 to $170/head to also push over 800c/kgcwt.
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The sheep yarding included some big lines of Merino wethers from the Wimmera/Mallee area which were sold in pen lots of up to 700 head. Competition for mutton was steady on the rates of a fortnight ago, with the better quality lines of quality sheep making from 570c to 630c/kgcwt. Heavy Merino ewes with good carcase cover sold from $160 to $215 to average just over $200/head. The heaviest crossbred and meat ewes made from $190 to $236/head. Light sheep sold from $80 to $130/head for most.
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