Bendigo prime lamb prices bolstered
Sheep and lamb prices have charged ahead at Bendigo as welcome rain boosts producers’ confidence. See the latest from the market here.
THE lamb market firmed and heavy sheep surged by up to $30 a head at Bendigo today in a good start to the week for southern producers.
With all eyes on the lamb numbers and prices as the spring flush begins to build, heavy sucker lambs peaked at $230 for a pen of 75 second-cross lambs.
They were bred by Ross and Robyn Lougoon of Leichardt.
Selling agent Chris Nevins, FP Nevins & Co, estimated their size at 32 to 33kg cwt.
It was one of about 24 pens of lambs to make over $200 per head at Bendigo today, with exporters again leading the market to a slightly dearer result than a week ago.
The official quote from the National Livestock Reporting Service was $2 to $3 dearer over the good runs of crossbred lambs sold to processors.
In dollars-per-head terms around 24 pens of suckers made over $200 per head, with the boom season putting a lot of weight into lambs. The majority are presenting over 24kg cwt.
Most of the good heavy trade lambs sold from $165 to $185, with select pens chased out to $195.
On a carcass basis the NLRS was quoting a range of 680c to 740c/kg across the bulk of the young lambs, with meat buyers needing a ballpark of 700c/kg to be competitive on the main runs.
The NLRS did note that carcass rates are now very similar across both export and trade lambs, with the big discounting that was evident for weight in the past month or so drifting out of the market.
Specialist restockers from Ballarat paid to $180 for tradeweight store lambs to shear, with most lambs to the paddock from $130 to $150.
It was the sheep market that took the biggest jump today, with NSW exporter Fletchers chasing volume numbers of big ewes.
The quote was $20 to $30 dearer across heavy ewes, with carcass prices lifting to between 500c to 550c/kg across the main categories.
A pen of exceptionally large Dorset ewes topped at $230; most crossbred ewes $160 to $220; heavy Merinos $160 to $200.
Meanwhile, last week Meat and Livestock Australia reported that over the hooks lamb prices had been on a downhill trend since June.
Last week the national trade lamb indicator averaged 694c/kg cwt, while the comparable over the hooks indicator sat at 647c/kg cwt.
MLA said last week that lamb supply continued to exceed demand, which was keeping the lid on over the hooks indicators.
Elevated lamb supply saw eastern states lamb slaughter for the week ending 11 September lift 10 per cent on the week prior to 347,500 head, six per cent higher year-on-year.
In response to this supply shift, national over the hooks indicators have eased, with medium trade and heavy lambs at their lowest levels since March 2019, reported at 647c/kgcwt and 649c/kg cwt, respectively, for the week ending 18 September.
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