Processing uncertainty impacts national lamb yardings

At Bendigo, Vic, on Monday, the sheep and lamb yarding was back almost 4000 head on what was initially catalogued the Friday before.

FP Nevins & Co director Luke Nevins said a lot of people were speculating about how the market would perform this week and after last week's "dreadful" prices, decided now wasn't the right time to sell.

"It's very scary times," Mr Nevins said.

"Generally we've got some sort of idea of the direction things are going to go but we don't know how long this is going to last and as a consequence, decisions are being forced upon us rather than us making them ourselves."

While some producers may have held off from selling this week, he said they knew that they couldn't hold on for too long.

"There is a large belief that these lockdowns are going to continue but meat has a limited shelf life, so you can't hold onto it forever," he said.

He said processors were still active but had a reduced buying capacity.

This didn't dramatically impact prices, he said, as they were buying from a reduced offering.

"Anything that carried weight made less," he said.

"Trade lambs selling on a cents a kilogram basis were dearer than their heavier counterparts."

Across the border into SA, the yarding at the SA Livestock Exchange at Dublin on Tuesday was stable, yet prices were hit by the reduced buyer demand.

That was according to Elders Dublin livestock manager Matt Ward, who said the yarding comprised of 70 per cent old season lambs and 30pc new season lambs.

Mr Ward said there was only one Victorian processor operating - Midfield - whereas they would normally have at least two others there.

"The pricing on old-season lambs fell away, between $5-$15 a head depending on quality," he said.

"On the new-season lambs, they were $10-$15 cheaper."

He said the reduced buying demand may cause some producers to hold off their sales, but some would just sell as per usual.

"There are areas in the Yorke Peninsula with good, assured grain-growing country and I would say 60pc of them will contemplate holding onto their lambs and shearing them and running them over stubbles," he said.

"The other 40pc will sell them once they're ready."

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Up north into NSW, PT Lord, Dakin & Associates livestock agent Paul Dakin said the market was actually stronger at Dubbo on Monday but that was because of the reduced yarding.

Mr Dakin said numbers halved from the previous sale, with 14,000 lambs offered.

"Numbers dropped off on the presumption that prices would be down because of the restrictions in Victoria," he said.

"And it was also in response to the drop in the market last week.

"So people are more than aware of what's going on with the market."

He said there were a couple of usual processors missing, but the majority seemed to be operating as per usual.

Looking forward, he said they would wait and see whether the usual spring flush came through.

"But it will depend on whether people decide to sell now or hold on," he said.

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