While demand for first-cross young ewes, aged one to one-and-a-half years, topped at a sale high $304 a head at the Edenhope annual ewe sale on Thursday, it was the competition applied to ewe lambs that epitomized the perfect buying storm.
With an abundant season throughout the west of the state and a perceived shortage of future breeders on the horizon, local restocker buyers dug deep against repeat Wimmera and Mallee enquiry for ewe lamb prices to surge $30 to $50 a head above expectation.
Best drafts of ewe lambs, suitable to February/March late-season joining, made $230-$276 a head, with a number of second draft lots making more than their first-draft counterparts.
Smaller restocker types, which were being banked for growing out and future joining next spring, then made $160 to $245 a head in a surprising display of urgency.
The sale, which offered some 9,000 head, was conducted by Rodwells Ruralco.