Daily online lamb sales to offer processors direct access without saleyards

A bold new daily online lamb selling system will hit the industry next month as producers try to get more for their stock this spring.

A bold new online selling system designed to create more competition for lamb is about to be launched across the eastern states.

AbbLamb is the brainchild of NSW lamb producer Robert Fraser. Lambs will be offered online every morning at 8am for processors to bid on.

It will draw on the current timing of lamb markets – such as Bendigo on a Monday, Ballarat on a Tuesday – to sell lambs in districts which already have physical sales, allowing meat buyers to secure numbers before they attend the saleyards.

Rob Fraser, the NSW lamb producer and brainchild behind AbbLamb, a daily online lamb selling platform targeting processors.

The first auction will be held on October 2.

Mr Fraser said AbbLamb was “created out of frustration”.

“I was frustrated and felt let down by plummeting lamb markets – I felt as a lamb producer I had no control or fair options to market my lambs,” Mr Fraser said.

“The lamb market had sunk to levels I thought producers would not see again … as a lamb producer I wanted to be more of a price maker not taker.”

The sales will be held on the FarmGate auction platform, a competitor to AuctionsPlus.

Mr Fraser said there were benefits for buyers from the system, including knowledge of the weight of every lamb as well as the background of those lambs, which would accompany the listings.

Abblamb's initial flyer to announce its launch.

Producers could also attach previous kill sheets for lambs from their properties to show their performance as well as photos of the lambs.

They had the ability to pass lambs in if they did not achieve what they considered a fair price, Mr Fraser said, compared to sending lambs to the saleyards where it was not economical to bring them home, let alone risking biosecurity if they did.

And while the system has been designed to allow producers more control in selling their lambs, Mr Fraser said there were benefits for buyers too.

“We understand there is interest in our system because of the lower carbon footprint compared to selling in the yards,” he said.

“Like many farm businesses, our family farm has the environment front and centre.

“Off-setting carbon emissions is a goal of every value chain at present and moving lambs from farm straight to processor is one way we can reduce our carbon footprint.”

It will cost $1.50 per lamb to list stock on AbbLamb.

The listing fee for each lamb will be $1.50, with vendors given two opportunities to sell before the lambs must be reassessed. Expected shrinkage rates will be applied based on the number of hours the lambs were yarded for before they were weighed.

Mr Fraser said it was a processor-only sale.

“Lambs will be drafted to suit all processor requirements, from light export lambs through to trade and heavy exports,” he said.

“The lambs are all up for auction at the start – the difference is each AbbLamb lot closes separately whereas with AuctionsPlus, each lot is active until the whole auction finishes.”