After a week of making almost daily highs, lamb prices this week peaked on Tuesday at a season’s top, so far, of $221 a head at Ballarat’s CVLX saleyards.
According Ballarat agent, Leo White whose company TB White & Sons effected the record sale on behalf for his brother-in-law, Kevin Maher, Springbank, the spike in lamb prices has come of the back of recent rains and follows a desperately dry spring and summer period that saw higher the expected numbers captured for slaughter in the pre-Christmas quarter.
For the Maher family it was their second draft of sale lambs for the 2016 season with their week earlier consignment sold at the Ballarat top of $210. The market certainly wasn’t as strong as this three weeks ago, Mr White said. Earlier in the week, Bendigo saleyards sold its top priced pen at $208 a head while at Wagga Wagga last Thursday, the Riverina market’s best prices firmed to $215 a head after hitting $209 in the previous sale a week earlier. In total five sales in the Ballarat yarding of 18,000 were made above the $200 a head threshold.