Corowa sale: Dizzying highs for spring ewes

Impressive results for first cross ewes left the crowd gasping in awe at the Blue Ribbon sale at Corowa. See what prices were recorded.

Hot prices: Colin Harper at the Corowa sheep sale, where prices averaged $400. Picture: Jenny Kelly

PRICE records were set at Corowa as the spring scramble for young first-cross ewe ewes began in earnest.

Bidding peaked at $418 to easily eclipse other saleyard records.

But that wasn’t the only headline part of the sale.

The big volumes of ewes selling for over $400 left many in the crowd gasping.

It started with annual draft of the Emu Park ewes bred by Bill Bott and son David of Coreen.

There were 791 ewes in the pen, all March/April 2019 drop and bare shorn.

Bidding opened at $370 and slowly built to $410. The surprise came when the buyer on AuctionsPlus – which was later confirmed as agency BR & C at Swan Hill for repeat buyers the Redfern family of Moulamein and Daryl Spinks from Kyalite – took the entire run at that money.

It sent shockwaves through the crowd, with some onlookers letting expletives slip and the more mannered a “whoa’’.

In the past when sheep have sold for big money the buyers have usually cut back on the numbered purchased. People scrambled for calculators, and for the record the 791 ewes cost $324,310.

The sale seemed to have an immediate affect on the crowd, injecting more urgency into bidding. Bill Bott said it was a game-changing moment.

“There is no doubt in my mind that (the buyer taking the entire 791) is what set the market on fire,’’ he said.

At the next pen buyers were quick to offer a start of $400 for Colin Harper’s impressive line of 787 young ewes which had a liveweight of 85kg.

They went on to top the sale at $418, with the crowd again shocked when the agent from South Gippsland took 600.

It meant two orders had spent more than $550,000 on ewes in less than 10 minutes, and taken a decent percentage of the young ewes off the market.

In total there were just 8500 sheep in the yarding – and that included ewe lambs and some older crossbred breeders.

The sale went on to have a base of $350, with the majority of young 2019 ewes selling from $380 to $400.

Among the vendors to break the $400 barrier were:

DG MCFARLANE, 340 ewes at $411;

L CLIFTON & Son, KiaOra, 208 ewes at $410;

INGLEMAR Pastoral, Caramar, 140 ewes at $412; and

RJ & NJ Harper, Ariah Park, 140 ewes at $400.

And the sale gained momentum as it went, with smaller pen lots of ewes showing a lot less size and growth still making towards $400 late in the auction.

Elders Corowa auctioneer Steve Grantham said the sale had set a new price floor for young ewes this spring.

“It is the bar – $400 is now the price bar as most ewes are making that sort of money, and if they aren’t they are not far off it,’’ he said.

He said later sales at $400 made the top sheep at $410 to $418 look “worth the money”.

It was a trend worth noting for those producers looking at upcoming sales such as the big Bendigo first-cross ewe markets. “My advice is to shop early,” he said.

The ewe lambs in the yarding sold to a top of $365 for March/April drop lambs that had a liveweight of 49kg.

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