Lamb markets continue to find form on the back of rising numbers coming into saleyards.
Price indicators for heavy and trade lambs are sitting just above the 800 cents a kilogram carcase weight market after the market strengthened.
Bendigo's offering on Monday of 16,600 lambs was bigger than the week before as producers offload old lambs due to the perineal problem of teeth and falling old lamb rates for plainer types.
Prices held remarkably well, while plainer lambs were up to $10 a head cheaper based around breed and fat cover.
Over the past few weeks old lamb quality has been very mixed at all major selling centres causing a great price gap between a good old lamb in a short skin and a lamb presenting in woolly condition.
Price disparities of $30 were common at Wagga Wagga, NSW, last week with 24-kilogram old lambs topping at $204, however woolly types sold down to a low of $158.
New-season lambs are offering buyers plenty of finish consistently over all weight categories and attracting strong supermarket competition.
This was evident at Bendigo, with bidding for young lambs having more depth as buyers shift their attention to sucker lambs as old lamb quality runs short.
The better-quality new-season trade drafts improved $20 making from $188-$220 to average 808-887c/kg cwt.
The majority of the lead heavy sucker lambs weighed 26-32kg cwt.
These topped at $244 for a pen estimated to weigh 32kg cwt and headlined a run of lambs that made between $217-$234 to return about 800c/kg cwt.
There were more sheep yarded and the offering presented a lot of weight, with Merino wethers hitting 40kg cwt and better.
Heavy wethers made from $147-$200 to average 505-562c/kg cwt.
Most heavy ewes ranged in price from $160-$190 and trade ewes between $100-$150.
The market followed on from a dearer sale at Wagga Wagga last week where sheep sold $10-$20 dearer, recording a top price of $200 for some big stud crossbred ewes.
Meat & Livestock Australia's National Livestock Reporting Service said at Corowa, NSW, on Monday new-season lambs gained $2-$9 and benefited from strong competition from supermarkets and niche butcher orders.
Quality across the lead drafts was exceptionally good with suckers showing a lot of freshness despite coming out of the recent cold, wet winter.
The best suckers sold to $214 with the NLRS estimating a carcase weight price of 820-839c/kg.
Price results for old trade lambs generally sold between the $146-$186 price range.
