Wycheproof store sheep sale: Volume buyers prevent market from being a flop

Two volume buyers have saved the latest Wycheproof store sheep sale from being a flop. Here’s what happened.

Not many sheep and not many buyers summed up today’s store sheep sale at Wycheproof.

Fewer than 6000 sheep were yarded by Elders, with auctioneer Kevin Thompson describing it as one of the smallest autumn yardings held at the centre.

Agents easily outnumbered farmers who are currently focused on sowing, with just a small crowd following the sale.

But two volume orders saved the market from being a flop, with prices rated as cheaper but still reasonable.

NSW farmer Jim Ryan, Darlington Point, helped keep today’s Wycheproof sale together with volume purchases of SIL Merino ewes to $254 plus wether lambs. Wycheproof store sheep sale, May 7, 2021. Picture: Jenny Kelly

Young scanned in lamb first-cross ewes sold to $340, a lone pen of grown but joined crossbreds at $270, and SIL Merino ewes to $254.

The yarding was scrappy in places, not showing a lot of breed quality or condition.

Euroa agent Mick Curtis stepped into the line-up of young joined first-cross ewes, buying the opening pens at $300 to a top of $306 for clients in the North East of Victoria.

The top price of $306 was for 263 maiden first-cross ewes, May-June 2020-drop, December shorn and SIL to Arden UltraWhite rams from February. The mob had scanned with 108 multiple pregnancies and 155 singles, for a potential lambing in excess of 130 per cent.

Vendor Andrew Donnan, Nedna at Willangie, said the market had lost its feed-driven gloss of recent months.

Andrew Donnan, Nedna at Willangie, sold nearly 800 SIL young first-cross ewes at Wycheproof at $280 to a top of $306 — about $20-$30 per head shy of what he had hoped for. Picture: Jenny Kelly

“The same sort of joined ewes made $400 for us last year when sold a bit later (in the June-July period), and I thought we might have got $320 to $330 today.

“It’s the season — it’s as dry as a bone at home. We’ve had no rain at all.’’

Mr Curtis said some buying opportunities had opened up for store sheep, and some of his clients were cashing in cattle and taking on more lambing ewes.

“I think it is a good time to buy a few of these young ewes, and there is more a gap or chance in the sheep market rather than cattle at present and some clients will swap a few cattle out.’’

The other order that kept the sale together was from NSW farmer Jim Ryan of Darlington Point. He paid to $254 for SIL Merino ewes and also bought Merino wether lambs to feed-on for the winter market.

On his first buying trip to Wycheproof, his opinion was prices weren’t at bargain levels but offered some room for a good outcome.

“No I wouldn’t call them bargains, probably value is the better word,’’ he said.