SHEEP and lamb prices were slightly lower on AuctionsPlus last week as the overall offering increased 12 percent to 90,112 head.

While the overall market sentiment continued to be robust, the run of dry weeks and cooling nights is reportedly starting to create some fluctuations, especially across the wether categories, while restocking demand for top quality breeding lines remains extremely high, AuctionsPlus said..

Across the lamb categories prices were split, with three up and three down for the week, as clearance rates continued to fluctuate. For the 20,277 head of Merino wether lambs on offer, the clearance rate reached 77 percent, which was back from the 89pc registered the previous week for a similar volume. As such, Merino wether lamb prices averaged $5 lower on last week, at $144/head. An indicative line of 600 store Merino wether lambs, out of White Cliffs NSW, averaging 42.1kg liveweight and Oct-Nov 20 drop, sold to $155/head – equating to 880.7c/kg dressed.

Crossbred lamb prices slip

The largest decline in the lamb categories for the week was for the crossbred and composite/other categories, which slipped back $40 and $31/head, respectively. In contrast, the largest increase was registered for the first cross ewe and shedding categories, up $42 and $52/head, respectively. For the shedding categories, there was another batch of excellent quality ewe lambs offered, with 51 Australian White future breeder ewe lambs, out of Bathurst at 42.8kg liveweight, selling to $471/head.

First cross ewe lamb clearance down

For the 8573 first cross ewe lambs offered this week, the clearance rate only reached 44pc – signalling that sellers are setting robust reserves, as the average for the week jumped $42 to $250/head.

Ewe prices were weaker

On the ewe side of the market, prices were largely weaker for the main joined ewe categories, with clearance rates well below the previous week’s averages. Scanned in-lamb Merino ewes, with 15,755 head offered, averaged $3 lower at $258/head – with a clearance rate of 60pc. Similarly, sound mouth Merino ewes declined $5, to $221/head – with only a 40pc clearance rate for the 3388 head offered. Scanned in-lamb first cross ewes averaged $14 lower this week, at $311/head.

NOTE: Prices are as at 5pm Thursday, 22nd April 2021.