New Season Sucker to $248/head at Bendigo

This article is bought to you by Trigger Vale Sheep Studs. 

Yarding - 11,855 (+2,855).

Lambs - 8,700 (+1,700).

Sheep - 3,155 (+1,155).

More lambs were yarded but quality eased into what is best described as a winter clean-up sale with a lot of small and mixed pen lots on offer. Competition from the regular buying group remained selective and subdued, with not all processors operating to capacity. The best quality was in the new season young lambs, which are starting to come forward, with pens off irrigation and weighing up to an estimated 28kg cwt selling to $248/head. Heavy old season lambs sold to $260/head. Price trends across old lambs were cheaper, with quality a factor in some discounted sales. The talking point of the market was a run of young May/June drop unshorn Merino lambs sent down from a southern NSW station, which drew keen restocking interest from Swan Hill, making from $120 to $138/head, to return over $10kg on a carcase basis.

Ad - Trigger Vale Sheep Studs Information Day is on the 23rd of August 2019 - Ad

New season lambs in the heavy trade weight category of 22-26kg cwt made from $206 to $237, with a few extra heavy pens off irrigation selling to a top of $248/head. On a carcase basis, the young lambs were estimated from 850c to 880c, with some lighter domestic types selling to 900c/kg cwt.

Ad - Trigger Vale Sheep Studs Information Day is on the 23rd of August 2019 - Ad

Quality in the old lamb run was very mixed. Heavy lambs over 26kg cwt sold from $220 to $260/head. The main run of medium crossbred lambs 22-24kg made from $184 to $220, to average $199/head. Carcase rates did vary over the old lambs based on breed quality, skin length, and number in a pen. The bulk of the sales to domestic and export processors were estimated from 800c to 850c/kg cwt. Light weight lambs under 20kg to processors predominantly made from $100 to $154/head, and these also showed a wide carcase price spread depending on quality and presentation.

Ad - Trigger Vale Sheep Studs Information Day is on the 23rd of August 2019 - Ad

There was another small yarding of sheep. Processor demand for good lines of mutton, such as shorn Merino wethers, improved to push above an estimated 600c/kg again, making from $150 to $194/head. There was a lot of weight in some of the crossbred ewes, which sold to$210/head. Prices also increased for light mutton

https://www.bendigo.vic.gov.au/Services/Bendigo-Livestock-Exchange