Good news for lamb producers as prices strengthen
As spring warms up, prices for young sucker lambs are lifting too. Some interesting trends have been playing out at the key Bendigo market.
HEAVY sucker lambs sold to $246 and heavy old crossbred ewes to the exact same money as both the lamb and mutton market took significant price jumps at Bendigo today.
The official quote for lambs was $10 to $18 per head dearer than a week ago as competition from all buying sectors — export, supermarket and domestic plus restockers — intensified.
The dearer trend pushed a lot of heavy young lambs over $200 per head, with the National Livestock Reporting Service reporting an average of $210 for sucker lambs in the 26kg-30kg carcass range.
The top $230-$246 lambs were estimated between 30 to 33kg cwt.
Medium and lighterweight domestic processing lambs stepped up to $160-$180 a head, to hit an estimated 800c/kg at times due to limited supplies.
Overall there was a price spread of 700c/kg-800c/kg cwt over the bulk of the young lambs, with good runs of heavy and trade slaughter lambs costing buyers averages of 740c/kg-780c/kg cwt.
Restockers also started to apply pressure to meat buyers, with specialist Ballarat finishers paying from $175 to $199 for tradeweight lambs to shear.
Feedback suggests tight supplies and less lambs being sold direct and on forward contract is carrying the market to dearer levels heading into October, which is often when the market corrects down from winter highs.
The mutton market also stepped up by another $10 to $30 per head amid ongoing tight yardings of sheep. Big crossbred ewes — some pens showing exceptional weight —$180 to $246; heavy Merino ewes $177 to $220; and heavy Merino wethers $182 to $234.
The NLRS estimated good lines of mutton as costing from 550c/kg to 600c/kg cwt.
Meanwhile, the first half of this month has produced a significant boost in interest in producers rebuilding their flocks, particularly in NSW.
According to National Livestock Reporting Service data, September yardings of young ewes in NSW are the largest reported for a month since February 2011, with a week still to go before October.
For the week ending 18 September, restocker Merino young ewes averaged $182, up $39 from the start of September, while first cross young ewes averaged $200, up $26/head over the same period.
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Lamb market back under 800c due to processor demand, while mutton numbers still fail to build.
Stage set for record first-cross ewe prices
All eyes and wallets will be on lead pens of ewes at the southern crossbred sales, which kick off in Corowa later this month.