Corowa sheep sale: Repeat buyers out in force
Repeat buyers chased harder than anticipated at today’s first-cross ewe sale at Corowa, paying to $238. Check out the key results.
Repeat buyers chased harder than anticipated at today’s first-cross ewe sale at Corowa in southern NSW, paying to $238 and over $200 per head at least a dozen times.
The result should give producers preparing to sell ewes at the upcoming Bendigo, Benalla and Naracoorte crossbred sales some hope, as Corowa showed specialist lamb breeders are still backing the industry.
The sale was generally quoted as $20 to $30 on the lead runs of ewes, with agents then more divided on results for some of the second and third draft lambs as bidding came back to $120 to $160 for a lot of these. The lowest price for 2022 drop young ewes was $80 for the final pen offered.
The opening draft of 828 first-cross ewes from renowned breeder Bill Bott and family, Emu Park at Cooreen, helped set-up the sale as more buyers than usual tried to get into these top quality ewes at today’s much lower prices, compared to recent years.
Bidding for the ewes opened at $160 before some quick bidding carried the pen to $238, with the eventual winner repeat buyers Goulburn Valley Water near Shepparton, which opted to take 400 head at that price.
When put up again, the balance of the ewes made $237, selling to Western District agent Dean Jenkinson, JM Ellis & Co.
The result seemed to add some momentum to the market, with agents able to get a start of $200 on the next feature line of 648 ewes bred by Colin Harper, Ariah Park. They ended up selling in two lines at $228 for 350 head and the balance at $200, with repeat buyers such as Brian McCormick from Nutrien Thorpdale in the mix.
Mr Harper described the result as “very pleasing, excellent in fact’’.
Like most others, he had gone into the sale with lowered expectations after the collapse of the mutton market and tepid lamb results through late winter.
“I started off thinking maybe $250 then a couple off months ago I was at $200, and then coming into day I thought if we get $180 we might be doing well,’’ he said.
“We will be pretty close to averaging $215 today and it just shows people are spending money on quality sheep.’’
The yarding of 2022 drop ewes did present exceptionally well at Corowa – many in the crowd
describing it as a “magnificent” line up of young ewes.
Some things to note about the sale:
THERE were a lot of pens split with agents offering unrestricted runs (meaning, take what number you want) and buyers often taking the option to purchase 100 to 200 head;
SOME agents suggested there was a premium for mulesed ewes, but this was sometimes
distorted by repeat buying of certain name line lots which weren’t mulesed; and
SOUTHERN buying dominated, with agents from central and northeast Victoria arguably more active than usual, with some vendors surmising that buyers were keen to get in while young ewes were at these price levels with the Bendigo and Naracoorte sales often posting higher price points later in the spring.
The feedback from buyers was they needed these quality, big-framed ewes to produce young lambs with weight and shape, and while prices were modestly better than expected at Corowa, the sheep still represented good value.
It was how Bill Bott saw the sale, saying it had struck the middle ground between giving vendors who grow out these ewes for more than 12-months some reward, while being okay on the pockets of buyers.
“It was a bit like Hay (Merino ewe sale in September), in that these ewe prices are satisfactory when you look at what sheep and lamb prices have been doing,’’ he said.
“But it has also been an opportunity for buyers to get into good young ewes at reasonable money, and that is what I like about today. I find people who buy these ewes and get a good result will come back again next year and that’s what this sale has been built on, repeat buying and as breeders we need that.’’
Once onto the smaller lots of 2022 drop ewes, which didn’t carry the name and size power of the lead lots, the market did ease back to between $120 to $160 for most.
Elders auctioneer Steve Grantham said the sale had tracked along well until about the last 25pc of the yarding.
“I thought the top ewes were dearer than expected, the middle runs were around what we anticipated but then we got a big light on for buyers in the last quarter of the sale,’’ he said.
Only a few pens of first-cross ewe lambs were offered, selling to a top of $144.
KEY RESULTS
W & D Bott, Emu Park, Coreen: 828 first-cross ewes, March/April 2022 drop, by Alma blood Merino ewes by Tulagi and Raywill Border Leicester rams, Gudair vaccinated and drenched: 400 at $238; 428 at $237; 174 at $203
C Harper, Ariah Park: 648 first-cross ewes, July 2022 drop, Sept shorn, Gudair vaccinated: 350 at $228 and 198 at $200
P Drum, Eagles Nest, Balldale: 254 first-cross ewes, April/May 2022 drop, Sept shorn, Gudair vaccinated, mulesed: $219
RJ Shipard & Sons, Fairfield, Balldale: 294 first-cross ewes, July 2022 drop, Sept shorn, Gudair vaccinated, mulesed: 100 at $206; 194 at $190
Delaware Pastoral: 183 first-cross ewes, April/May 2022 drop, Sept shorn, mulesed: 100 at $212; 83 at $194
RN & RJ Harper, Cadel, Ariah Park: 329 first-cross ewes, Aug/September 2023 drop, Sept shorn, $208 Uyanyah: 213 first-cross ewes, June/July 2022 drop, Sept shorn, mulesed, $206 Taravale: 296 ewes, March/April drop, Sept shorn, Gudair vaccinated, $200 Rebut, Fermanagh, Balldale: 200 first-cross ewes, June/July 2022 drop, Sept shorn, $184 L Clifton & Sons, Kia Ora, Coreen: 205 first-cross ewes, May/June 2022 drop, Sept shorn, mulesed, $180
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