There was no heat lost from the demand for prime lambs when selling moved to Ballarat on Tuesday.
Despite the temperature hovering around 3 to 4 degrees and the “feel like” monitor dipping below zero, a full gallery of Victorian processors dueled manfully with a couple of infrequent NSW orders for a mixed yarding of 16,300 lambs (1600 fewer).
And it was on for young and old when auctioneer Gerard White, TB White and Sons, asked a price of $250 a head for the first pen of the day before knocking the down the lot at $263. Two hammers later it was a Ballarat record price of $267 a head.
Mr White said it was a credit to all vendors to had held their lambs so well for so late into the season.
“It’s been a very tough autumn and there has been a lot of resources (grain and hay etc) tipped into these lambs to get through to this time of the year,” Mr White said.
TB White sales went like this: $263, $257, $267, $234, $252, $249 and $241 on their first 831 head sold with 1779 cleared at $200/head or more.
Elders auctioneer, Graeme Nicholson – a veteran of 44 years on the rail – described the event as “a day in paradise”.
“We don’t often get days like this. It was pleasing for our vendors many of them have poured a lot of money and effort into maintaining their lambs in the required condition,” Mr Nicholson said.
The NLRS reported: “five sales made above $250 and a further 32 sales above $200/head. The heavier well finished, trade weight lambs sold from $165 to $199/head and averaged 760c/kg cwt.”
Hoggets also came under heavy fire, a number of these rejected (mouthed out) from earlier lamb deliveries: a seasonal requirement of processors at this time of the year.
On one occasion a lot of 88 was re-offered as hoggets and made $218 a head while their younger lamb cousins (teeth not erupted) made $28 more or $245 a head.
This of course begs the question if the proposed new lamb definition is implemented (a lamb remains a lamb until the erupted teeth are deemed in full use) then how many more would retain the higher value.
About 50 per cent according to the agent who mouthed the stock, meaning, in this instance, another $1232 would have been returned to the vendor.
This hot demand for lamb was not isolated to Ballarat.
At Bendigo “neat” light trade lambs pushed 800c/kg at times while extra heavy lambs sold to $250, with 52 sales at $200/head and above.
At Corowa, NSW, sales topped at $255, with 20 sales made at $200/head or above while at Wagga Wagga, Thursday where a new national record of $276.20/head was set.
