The $575 SIL Primeline Shedder ewe lambs sold on AuctionsPlus this week. Source – AuctionsPlus

EWE prices reached new levels on AuctionsPlus this week, led by scanned in-lamb Primeline Shedder ewe lambs selling for $575 in the National Ewe Sale yesterday.

The Christie Hood agency at Narromine offered the 360 May/August 2025 drop Primeline ewes lambs SIL 138 percent to Lambpro Primeline Crusader rams for a late July lambing.

The ewes were bred by Narromine mixed farmer Jeremy Gill who said it was “a bit of a shock, I’m still shaking a bit.”

“I was expecting $480-$500 on the current market, but I definitely wasn’t expecting what they made.”

The ewe lambs sold to a Crookwell producer, a repeat buyer of the Waterloo Partnership ewes.

Mr Gill said he has been on Primeline blood for 16 years and bought his first shedding rams in early 2023. The family operation runs about 3000 ewes within a cotton and crop operation, and moved into shedding genetics to supply the surplus ewe market. He said seasonal conditions often made it difficult to finish lambs.

The family has already sold 900 of the 2025 drop ewe lambs unjoined to the buyer of the $575 ewes, for $350-$375. These scanned at 154pc recently.

Mr Gill said the demand for ewes is obviously strong because of the low national flock.

“People need to buy replacement ewes and they are better off to buy good ones.

“But I did make a decision to buy the best rams that Tom (Bull) could offer.”

Sires were selected for type and indexes weighted towards positive fat, shedding ability, and fertility/weaning performance. The Waterloo sheep have also performed well for intramuscular fat.

“Positive fat because in our boom or bust area we want them to hold on for as long as possible.”

Christie Hood agent Tim Wiggins said the Gills were good operators and had spent the money to buy the right genetics.

“They’ve been rewarded for it, $575 is phenomenal money for a sheep isn’t it?

“They would certainly be the dearest sheep per head that I’ve sold and they’re only lambs.”

He said the ewe market is being driven by the low sheep flock and the Primeline genetics were proving themselves on fertility, growth rates, carcase shape and yield.

But he said five year-old scanned in-lamb Merino ewes made $370-$380 this week, and four year-olds also SIL to Merino rams making $390 this week.

“Because the wool job is strong too, the blokes that have persevered with the good quality Merinos and spent money maintaining their flock quality and keeping their production are now getting rewarded back to where they need to be as well.

“The whole industry is very positive mate.”

Mr Wiggins said international demand was a factor, but he said when producers had paddock feed markets are good.

Other SIL composite cross ewes sold in AuctionsPlus’ National Ewe Sale sold to $443 in the AuctionsPlus sale, with SIL Merino ewe hoggets making top $456 and SIL first cross ewe lambs selling to $425.

These 20-21 month-old Merino ewe hoggets SIL to Charollais rams from W. Oxenbridge at Tallimba sold through Nutrien Wagga for $456 on AuctionsPlus.