These unjoined Australian White ewe lambs at Forbes, NSW, sold for $449 on AuctionsPlus last week.

STRONG demand for Australian White and shedding breed ewes and for lines of in-lamb or joinable crossbred ewes featured in AuctionsPlus online sales last week.

AuctionsPlus said after recent rainfall, the number of sheep and lambs offered exclusively on the online platform was down considerably last week, to 46,681 head.

After the previous week’s higher average prices, values last week were varied, with falls for the largest lines of Merino wether and crossbred lambs, although Merino wethers averaged $158, up $18.

Prices averaged higher for scanned in-lamb first cross ewes (up $52 to $355), for hogget Merino ewes (up $28 to $245), for shedding breed ewe lambs (up $36 to $338) and for unjoined first cross ewe hoggets (up $92 to $282 for a small sample) and for unjoined composite ewes (up $40 to $349).

The highlight for the week was $449 paid for 174 unjoined July-August 2020 drop Tattykeel blood Australian White lambs averaging 43.7kg liveweight at Forbes in New South Wales.

At Clear Lake in south-west Victoria, 180 unjoined August-September 2020 drop White Dorper ewe lambs weighing 37.9kgs lwt sold for $220.

Fewer first cross ewe lambs

A greatly reduced offering of 3275 first cross ewe lambs sold from $180-$310 and averaged $233, up $4, with a clearance rate of 83 percent. In contrast, the average price for Merino ewe lambs slipped $36 to $180 within a range of $88-$238, with a clearance rate at 66pc for the 2520 head offered.

Merino wether lambs make $90-$172, average $140

Two lines of late February shorn October-November 2020 drop Merino store wether lambs – 720 and 480 – averaging 30.7kgs lwt at Nyngan in NSW, averaged $145, or 1150c/kg dressed. A line of 432 unshorn September-October 2020 drop Merino wether lambs weighing 26.5kgs lwt at Muttaburra in western Queensland sold for $120, or 1250c/kg dressed.

Ewe demand remaining firm

These two year-old first cross ewes scanned in-lamb to Poll Dorset rams at Wagga Wagga, NSW, sold for $410 on AuctionsPlus last week.

AuctionsPlus said demand held firm across the ewe categories as supplies remained tight.

At Wagga Wagga in NSW, 198 two year-old early September shorn first cross ewes scanned in-lamb 136pc to Poll Dorset rams sold for $410 last week. Across the border at Rochester in Victoria, 213 1-2 year-old mid-November shorn Merino ewes, averaging 55kg lwt and scanned in-lamb to White Suffolk rams sold for $300.

At Lockington in northern Victoria, 235 late November shorn 6.5 year-old White River blood Merino ewes scanned in-lamb to White Suffolk rams sold for $220.