Deniliquin store ewes sell to $276 but mutton market highlight as wethers attract top bids

Young ewes that needed more feeding were dearer than expected at the Deniliquin store sheep sale.

Auctioneer Jason Andrews, Elders, selling in the dust at Deniliquin last week.

IN among the dust were some good sales for quality Merino ewes at the Deniliquin, NSW, store sheep sale last week.

The best price of $276 was paid for 2½-year-old Merino ewes, while five-year-olds from noted property Mooloomoon reached $248 to be among the highest priced older breeders sold in the Riverina this spring.

These ewes had size and condition, whereas most of the younger maiden ewes lacked the bloom and growth of recent markets such as Jerilderie and Hay.

Merino buyers: Keith Buckingham, from Jerilderie, and agent Michael Baker, from Rodwells Echuca, paid $248 for the five-year-old Mooloomoon Merino ewes at the Deniliquin store sheep sale last week.

Bidding for 2018-drop ewes reached $254, but there were a lot of sales between $160 and $200 for sheep that would need extra feeding and time before they could be joined.

Landmark agent Marc Braybon from Deniliquin said the strength of the sale had been across the second and third tier ewes as people shopped to a dollar-a-head price.

“I think a lot of those young ewes that needed a bit more feeding and growth were probably $10 to $15 dearer than what a lot of people thought they were going to be,’’ he said.

“But store sheep are still affordable — even if you had no trade-in you could get out of a lot of these ewes in 12-nonths with the way the lamb, mutton and wool job (market) is.’’

Landmark Finley agent Peter Mills, with the Merino wether lambs which topped at $142 at Deniliquin store sheep sale last week.

Like recent Riverina store sheep sales, the high mutton market acted as a floor in the sale with a number of meat buyers present. NSW processor Fletchers International from Dubbo was a volume buyer of crossbred store lambs to go into the company’s feedlot, and was also a dominant bidder on older Merino ewes. The company paid to $210 for ewes to process.

Buyer Stan Rice, from Coleambally, with the opening pen of young Merino ewes he purchased for $252 at Deniliquin store sheep sale last week.

The price floor of $170-plus for meat helped the sale achieve some solid averages, with saleyard operators Scanclear reporting that:

10,793 EWES averaged $190.81;

5842 MERINO wether lambs averaged $120.19; and

1515 CROSSBRED store lambs sold to $165 and averaged $139.

The Merino wether lamb section was the highlight of the market, with bidding very competitive, particularly as the sale moved on to the second and third drafts of lambs and size dropped away.

Fletchers buyer and Bendigo agent Alex, M&M, were the volume buyers of crossbred store lambs at Deniliquin last week.

The negative aspect of the Deniliquin sale was the extremely dusty conditions, with the yards not watered down before the 20,000 sheep were yarded.

At times it was difficult for auctioneers to spot bids amid the swirling dust.

Sheep sold from southern NSW down into central Victoria, and agents noted due to a lack of irrigation water and feed the sheep traders that sometimes operate to buy and join ewes to offer for re-sale early next year didn’t operate.