Deniliquin store sheep sale sees young Merino ewes top $345

Mixed prices at the Deni yards were off the pace with larger sales, though some lambs still went well at the contracted store market.

Picture: Zoe Phillips

Young Merino ewes sold to $345 at Deniliquin in southern NSW today in a store market that played out like a music box with top, middle and low notes.

The overall verdict from the 17,000-head yarding was ‘solid’ based on sheep quality, with the sale not having the depth of quality or ewe size and weight to be comparable to the recent big headline Riverina sales of Hay and Jerilderie.

Merino wether lambs were the highlight, selling to $178 and having a very strong base of $130-plus regardless of size.

Price results were more mixed across the ewe run, with the best 1.5-year-olds a few dollars shy of expectations, while some of the plainer pens in the midsection of the sale sold strongly.

Dollar-per-head buying appeared to be a key influence across the sale, with the bulk of the ewes selling from $230 to $280, the tight range making some of the better style ewes with more frame appear much better buying than the smaller and plainer types.

“It was sticky in a few spots,’’ said Nutrien auctioneer Marc Braybon: “I thought the whole thing was $10 to $20 shy of where we thought it might have been, although some sheep still sold well.’’

A lone pen of young first-cross ewes topped the sale at $380, after selling agents repeatedly called for a price tag of $400 plus. The 143 ewes were June/July 2020-drop, September shorn, unjoined and mulesed, sold account local Deniliquin property Kapunda.

The best price for Merino ewes was $345 for Avenel Station’s 150 June/July 2020-drop maidens that were April shorn and Old Ashrose blood.

This pen was followed by the Boabula young ewes bred by Ian Milliken, with the line of 416 May/June 2020-drops selling for $280. Mr Milliken said the sale didn’t have the consistency or strength of demand of some recent markets.

“It has been up and down,’’ he said: “The price for my ewes was softer than what I thought – for the weight of them I thought they were worth $300.’’

There was only a small crowd in attendance, although the sale was interfaced on AuctionsPlus.