Lambs sell to record of $354.20 at Wagga Wagga

Lamb prices are expected to get higher in late winter, according to an expert.

HEAVY lambs have smashed yet another record.

A pen of 20 Poll Dorset-White Suffolk lambs sold for the Australian saleyard record of $354.20 at Wagga Wagga late last week — beating the $350 record set at Corowa a few days earlier.

The lambs were 11 months old, weighed between 95kg and 105kg liveweight and were sold by Joe and Cooper Mooney from Goulburn.

Landmark Wagga Wagga livestock agent James Croker said they were the biggest lambs he had seen. At an estimated dressed weight of 50kg, the lambs returned about 708c/kg carcass weight.

“They were big heavy lambs and certainly made the new record on a dollars-a-head basis but not cents-a-kilogram,” Mr Croker said.

He said overall the lamb market last week was noticeably dearer, especially for trade weight lambs.

“A lot of trade lambs were making $10/kg last week,” Mr Croker said.

Mecardo market analyst Matt Dalgleish said he wouldn’t be surprised if prices rallied again in late winter.

He said he was predicting an Eastern States Trade Lamb Indicator at 900c/kg to 950c/kg carcass weight by the end of winter.

The ESTLI was trading at 896c/kg yesterday, up 46c/kg on a week ago.