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Crossbred and Merino wether lamb numbers surge online

Sheep Central, March 15, 2021

These May-june 2020 drop first cross ewe lambs joined to Border Leicester rams sold for $350 at Minlaton, SA, on AuctionsPlus last week.

CROSSBRED and Merino wether lamb numbers surged on AuctionsPlus last week, lifting the overall online sheep and lamb offering by 15 percent to 96,643 head.

AuctionsPLus offered 20,052 crossbred lambs and 19,454 Merino wether lambs, and prices fell slightly.

Crossbred lambs sold from $90-$250 and average $161, down $9. Similarly, the average price for Merino wether lambs slipped $4 to $139, with lines selling from $111-$200, 80pc of the offering sold.

In Tuesday’s National Lamb sale, 143 May-June 2020 drop late February shorn Merino store wether lambs weighing 33.1kg liveweight sold for $122, or an estimated 368.6c/kg lwt.

Prices varied across the other categories, along with clearance rates, and especially for joined ewes.

First cross ewe lambs sold $169-$305 and averaged $242, $7 dearer, despite the clearance rate falling to only 37pc, compared to 57pc in the previous week.

AuctionsPlus said the clearance rate was also lower this week for sound mouthed Merino ewes, at 21pc, and also for scanned in-lamb first cross ewes, at 26pc. However, AuctionsPlus said the higher average prices for both ewe categories up $34 for the Merinos and $8 for the first cross ewes, indicated that sellers were holding firm on reserve levels, while the buyers that did secure a sale were pushed higher on average than last week.

The highest clearance rate for the week was for unjoined Merino hogget ewes, at 94pc, for the 2346 head offered. These sold from $189-$300, averaging $244, up $23. A line of 241 22-23 month-old August shorn SIL Poll Merino ewe hoggets weighing 68.2kgs at Saddlesworth, South Australia, made $328.

AuctionsPlus said the first ten days of Autumn has seen some much-needed falls through several regions, most notably through very dry regions of Western Australia, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. While compared to 2020 the 2021 autumn break may not be as desperately needed, the extent of the autumn break always serves as an excellent guide to the remainder of the year – especially with the current flock rebuilding intentions in full swing.

NOTE: Prices are as at 5pm Thursday, 11 March 2021.

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