These unjoined 17-18 month-old early June shorn Poll Merino ewes sold for $336 on AuctionsPlus at Nyngan, NSW, last week.

ONLY unjoined Merino ewes and ewe hoggets, and scanned in-lamb shedding breed ewes increased in price on AuctionsPlus last week.

All other lines held firm on small offerings or lost ground, especially crossbred, first cross, Merino ewe and shedding breed lambs.

The 5693 unjoined Merino ewe hoggets sold from $180-$336 to averaged $265, $19 dearer, with a 98 percent clearance rate.

The average price for the 7684 unjoined Merino ewes offered rose $23 to $220, within a range of $136-$298, with a 94pc clearance rate. Of the 5108 unjoined first cross ewes offered, only 39pc sold, from $165-$325 to average $235, $52 lower. Only 4pc of the 2633 composite ewes offered sold for an average of $155, down $81.

Scanned in-lamb shedding breed ewes sold from $300-$1250, to average $707, with 81pc of the 174-head offering selling.

AuctionsPlus’ weekly commercial lamb and sheep offering rose 8pc to 100,368 head. With the higher supplies came a decline across most categories, with all lamb segments back on last week, as clearance rates remained patchy, AuctionsPlus said.

Prices drop in all six main lamb categories

AuctionsPlus said shedding breed lines were the most-affected in a rare decline across all the six main lamb reporting categories, as a reduction in the feature lines offered impacted top-end prices for the category. After last week’s $88 gain, shedding lambs sold from $160-$451 to average $106 lower at $284/head, with 67pc of the 3029 head offered selling.

AuctionsPlus said across the two largest lamb categories, crossbreds and Merino wethers, vendors eased reserve levels with the start of the last month of Summer, leading to small increases in clearance rates.

Buyers paid $73-$172, or an average of $133, down $8, for 86pc (up 3pc) of the 18,013 Merino wether lambs offered, with 18,013 head offered. Similarly, for 89pc of the 17,256 crossbred lambs buyers paid $95-$186, or an average of %156, $4 lower.

AuctionsPlus said buyer hesitancy continues to afflict the first cross ewe lamb market, with only 45pc of the 8944-head offering selling, at $150-$305. On the back of the previous week’s average $16 decline, first cross lambs averaged another $13 lower at $145.

Proven ewe rates hold

AuctionsPlus cleared 86pc of the 9112 scanned in-lamb Merino ewes offered last week. The offering was a substantial increase on the 3647 offered the previous week, but prices ranged from $193-$378, to average $274, only $5 down. With a similar trend, scanned in-lamb first cross ewes sold from $271-$446 to average $356, down $8, but numbers increased substantially to 3231 head and 70pc were sold.

NOTE: Prices as at 5pm, Thursday 3rd February 2022