Mixed bag of quality at Deniliquin special sheep sale

Southern Victorian sheep buyers unable to travel into NSW have been able to bid online for a special sheep sale where more than 18,000 were yarded.

Nutrien auctioneer Jeff McCallum selling Merino ewes at Deniliquin. Picture: Jenny Kelly.

YOUNG scanned-in-lamb first-cross ewes sold to $424 to top a special sheep sale at Deniliquin on Friday, which had flat spots and performed according to quality.

Sheep throughout the 18,380-strong yarding were mixed for both breed type and condition, with most of the ewes lacking the bloom that was evident in the special spring sales before the season dried out.

The top prices in each section were:

■ $424 for SIL first-cross ewes;

■ $358 for Merino ewes scanned to meat rams;

■ $326 for unjoined 2019 drop Merino ewes;

■ $174 for Merino wether lambs; and

■ $162 for crossbred store lambs.

Border restrictions due to COVID-19 meant the sale was interfaced with AuctionsPlus for the first time, with many southern Victorian buyers unable to travel into NSW.

Bidding on AuctionsPlus had its moments, starting off the first pen of SIL first-cross ewes at a quick $400 and going on to claim the sheep at $424.

The price was for 198 May-June 2019 drop ewes that were July shorn and had an average weight of 79kg.

They were scanned to Poll Dorset rams with 80 multiple pregnancies and 110 singles.

They were bred by David and Nancy Curtain, Muskery at Jerilderie.

However, the sale did wax and wane and some sheep looked to be selling below the odds set at recent markets and on the internet. Although people said that price fluctuations were connected to sheep quality and condition.

The lead pens of SIL young merino ewes sold from $300 to a top of $358 – the top price being for July 2019 drop ewes that were in a July skin and were all carrying multiple pregnancies to White Suffolk rams.

Elders Corowa livestock agent Steve Grantham said it wasn’t big money considering back in the spring a lot of bare shorn young Merino ewes had made $300.

“It looks tough enough to me,’’ Mr Grantham said. “This sale was better coming off a drought (last year) than this year,’’ he said.

It was an observation that had some merit, as booking sheets from the sale show that the 13,559 ewes sold (crossbred and merinos) averaged $259 last week, compared with $220 12 months ago during the midst of the drought.

And this year’s average was built on more crossbred ewes at $270 plus, whereas last year the top ewe price for the yarding was $280.