These mid-October shorn May-June 2021 drop Laurel Park blood Merino ewes at Kikoira, NSW, sold for $227 on AuctionsPlus last week.

AUCTIONSPLUS reported continuing strong prices for terminal, Merino and shedding breed lambs last week.

New season lambs accounted for 58 percent of online listings last week, with three of the six lamb categories recording week-on-week price rises.

AuctionsPlus said despite widely publicized supply chain disruptions and reported hesitance from buyers and sellers, prices for key lamb categories remained firm throughout January, underpinned by the overall quality of lambs coming onto the market.

Merino wether and crossbred lambs have faced robust demand in January’s four national sales, with the wether prices ranging from $134-147 and lambs made $155-160/head.

Following three consecutive weeks of increased listings, in the final week of January AuctionsPlus sheep and lamb numbers fell 18pc to 92,955 head.

Total sheep and lamb listings for the month totalled 331,008 head, 16pc higher year-on-year. Joined ewe listings held firm on last week, with just over 12,000 head, which returned mixed results.

South-west Victoria dominates crossbred lamb offering

Crossbred lambs accounted for 27pc of the AuctionsPlus offering last week, with most listings ciming from south-west Victoria. The lambs averaged $160 and a 76pc clearance was achieved. An indicative run of two even lines totalling 1700 head of Poll Dorset cross mixed sex store lambs from Port Campbell, Victoria, weighing 36.1kg liveweight, made $168.

Ewe lamb categories returned mixed results last week, with 35pc of Merino lambs selling and 41pc  of first cross ewe lambs finding a new home. The 8535 first cross ewe lambs comprised 9pc of the offering. Prices ranged from $150-390 to average $254, back $16. The 1749 Merino ewe lambs averaged $167, up $42.

The 7744 composite/other breed lambs made up 9pc of the offering, and most came from south-west Victoria and the New South Wale’s Riverina region. The category achieved a robust clearance of 81pc as prices fell $109 to average $198.

Grown wether and joined ewes sell well

Grown Merino wethers registered a 180pc rise in listings week-on-week, with a total offering of 4038 head. They averaged $155, up $32, and 74pc sold.

The average price for the 3647 scanned in-lamb Merino ewes listed rose $11 to $279 and 87pc were cleared. These included two lines of 2-6 year-olds ewes totalling 500 head at Dubbo, NSW and weighing 66kg liveweight, sold for $306.

Joined shedding breed ewes and lambs remained in high demand last week, with 100pc of 1153-head offering selling for an average of $384, up $107.

Unjoined ewe clearances hold firm

Unjoined ewe categories accounted for 20pc of the AuctionsPlus catalogue last week, including 5910 Merino ewe hoggets and 6953 ewes. Following a decline across all categories last week, prices for four of the five categories rose this week, while clearance rates remained firm. Merino ewe hoggets averaged $246, up $13, with a 71pc clearance, and the older Merino ewes averaged $197, back $10, with a lift in clearance to 85pc.

NOTE: Prices as at 5pm, Thursday 27th January 2022