These scanned in-lamb first cross ewes at Naracoorte, SA, sold for $300 on AuctionsPlus last week.

EWES dominated AuctionsPlus online listings last week, including stud and commercial Merino lines, and scanned in-lamb first cross ewes.

AuctionsPlus market operator Anna Adams said online sheep and lamb numbers were steady last week at 46,164 head, just 1200 fewer than the previous week.

Clearance improved to 84 percent across all sales, with 498 registered bidders, and 75 buyers securing sheep.

There was a full clearance of the 720 stud and 2248 commercial sheep offered at the Okehampton Merino Stud on-farm dispersal, interfaced with AuctionsPlus. Scanned-in-lamb stud ewes averaged $505 and sold to $740, and stud ram lambs made to $940 and averaged $659. A line of unshorn, August drop wether lambs weighing 39kg sold for $130. Four lots were sold to online bidders.

Scanned in-lamb first cross ewes sell to $300

There was keen competition for several lines of scanned-in lamb first cross ewes just on a year old were offered last week. Prices ranged from $230 to $300 and averaged $259. The top price was for 454 June/July drop ewes weighing 56.1kg at Naracoorte. These were scanned 146pc in-lamb to White Suffolk rams with 46pc of the young ewes carrying multiple lambs.

Older scanned in-lamb first cross ewes in a 2000-head flock dispersal in Gippsland, Victoria made from $105.50 to $182.50. Crossbred ewes of other breeds scanned in-lamb to terminal sires sold from $128 to $211 and averaged $166.

Scanned in-lamb Merino ewes to $190

Large numbers of Merino ewes were again offered. Young scanned ewes made $56.50 to $190, averaging $135. The top price was for 205 bare-shorn, rising two-year-old Glendemar blood ewes scanned 132pc in-lamb to White Suffolk rams. They weighed 55.1kg lwt and were mostly score 3 in condition. Older scanned Merino ewes sold from $97 to $146 averaging $128. Merino ewe lambs sold from $92.50 to $141 and averaged $119.

Merino wether lambs sell to $125

Merino wether lamb numbers were limited and sold strongly from $63 to $125 to average $88, up $10 on last week. The top price was paid for 410 August/September drop score 2 mid-February shorn lambs weighing 42.8kg at Nhill in Victoria that sold to a Riverina NSW buyer.

New season lambs continue to trickle in last week, selling from $80.50 up to $108, or 326-366c/kg liveweight for first cross Poll Dorset lambs weighing between 23-29kg. Older store lambs ranged from $75 to $135.50 or 287-384c/kg lwt.

Ms Adams said some Coollalee cross lambs expected to dress 32kg at Tullamore, NSW, were listed and sold prior to auction based on the assessment – an unusual offering, and proof that the online platform can indeed effectively market heavy lambs, as well as being the primary marketplace for store stock.

Source: AuctionsPlus.