Prime sheep and lamb sales back despite smaller numbers
Lamb and sheep prices have taken a hit of up to $30 at Wagga Wagga and Hamilton sales today. See the full report.
It’s been a tough week for lamb producers with prices slipping by up to $30 today at prime markets.
Both Wagga Wagga and Hamilton had smaller offerings but it was not enough to stop prices diving, with the biggest falls for mutton sheep.
National Livestock Reporting Service reporter Chris Agnew said sheep prices fell by as much as $25-$30 at Hamilton today despite a small offering of just 6800 which was 10,000 fewer than the week before.
And despite the quality being good, rates slipped to settle at 170-220c/kg for most lines.
“Not all the regular processors were present and those on the rail were not fully active in a market that was very lacklustre,” Mr Agnew said.
The national mutton indicator has fallen 30c/kg in the past week and 86c/kg in the past month to be dipping down close to the 200c/kg mark, closing at 208c/kg carcass weight on Thursday.
And while the price falls have not been so big for lamb, they have still taken a hit with 33-49c/kg shaved off their value in the past seven days.
At Wagga Wagga today, there were close to 40,000 lambs and while quality was varied, all prices were affected.
The NLRS quoted a $10-$15 price fall across the board, with the best heavy export weights over 30kg carcass weight making $191-$246 to average about 657c/kg carcass weight.
Thursday’s tough results follow from earlier in the week, where Bendigo and Ballarat lamb markets were up to $20 cheaper than the week before.
Victorian Farmers Federation livestock group president Scott Young said the recent price falls were hard to swallow when other costs kept going up.
“I think when prices hit the 400-500c/kg (carcass weight) mark, there were people who looked at this and decided to get out of sheep,” Mr Young said.
“At 700c/kg (average carcass weight price), we may be able to keep people in the industry.
“We need everyone in the supply chain to be making money.”
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