The lamb market has started to transition from old lambs to new season suckers, with prices continuing to fluctuate in the past week.
Centres from Bendigo and north into Corowa, NSW, Dubbo, NSW, Forbes, NSW, and Wagga Wagga, NSW are now yarding new-season lambs, albeit in limited numbers due to the unusually wet season and several price corrections.
Extra heavy sucker lambs off pasture and weighing between 31-32 kilograms carcase weight sold to a top price of $238 a head at Griffith, NSW.
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At Corowa in southern NSW, lambs are presenting with more weight in the 20-26kg cwt weight range
Based on Meat & Livestock Australia's National Livestock Reporting Service data, these lambs have generally been working out between 730-800c/kg cwt.
So far buyers have estimated a value of $1-$2 on sucker skins, with hopes the skin market will improve as production increases.
These new season lambs offer buyers the best carcase quality, with old season lambs at some selling centres deteriorating as the tail-end drafts are cleared out.
At the close of selling Friday, the National Trade Lamb Indicator was listed at 733c/kg cwt, with figures from the NLRS showing erratic price trends over some categories in the past week.
The heavy lamb indicator sits at 758c/kg cwt to mark a 1c/kg drop.
The lamb market is yet to settle, coming off a short trading week and leading into another public holiday next week for NSW.
This had a big effect in NSW on Monday, with some buyers not attending markets with good numbers of lambs on sight.
Corowa was hardest hit with new-season lamb prices slipping backwards $25 across the board.
Agents yarded a top-quality offering of 13,605 lambs, numbers lifting by 3640.
Sucker trade lambs 20-24kg sold at $144-$198 to average 730c/kg cwt.
The heavy portion sold to $212 to average 740c/kg cwt.
The lamb market at Bendigo weakened as the market fell away on reduced processor activity.
Price corrections of $10-$20 a head were recorded for new-season trade lambs depending on their breed and quality.
Suckers ranged from $140-$192 with a single pen hitting $202 to average 730-780c/kg.
Heavy suckers made from $201-$257.
Signs of rates stabilising appeared on Tuesday as exporters and domestic processors bought lots with more enthusiasm.
In Victoria at Ballarat following on from a softer trend in Bendigo, prices improved $4 for trade weights, while heavy lambs gained $15
Trade lambs weighing between 22-24kg averaged 780c/kg and topped at $215, while heavy old lambs averaged out at 740c/kg.
Mutton at the central Victorian market tracked a few dollars cheaper to average 490-550c/kg cwt.
