The sunrays beating down on bidders and stock agents were one of the few bright things of the day at the December Bendigo Blue Ribbon First-cross Ewe Sale.
No pens of sheep went anywhere near the 400 cents per kilogram mark of last month's sale, as prices continued to fall back.
About 14,000 sheep were yarded with a little over 12,000 sold totaling $2.6 million in sales for the day.
At the beginning of the sale Nutrien Bendigo Rural auctioneer Nick Byrne told the gallery that many stock at the sale would have been offered a number of weeks ago as well if it had not been for the big wet.
"That was probably the instigator of having the sale to be quite honest, a lot of sheep are either struggling to get shearers, they could have been stuck behind floodwater, couldn't get transport in to get livestock out," Mr Byrne said.
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"It was it was very challenging month or six weeks there, and, vendors have done a terrific job and it's just unfortunate that things haven't gone the right way."
While there was a good crowd at the sale, a number pens struggled to have ongoing bidding, but Mr Byrne said the sale was close to expectations for many agents.
"We knew we were facing a few headwinds with what the industry has gone through in the last fortnight," he said.
"The quality sheep, I think, still sold to expectation and being a little bit later in the season, a few of the sheep had just that little bit more pelt on or perhaps didn't display with the bloom that we would usually like.
"Those sheep that did show bloom sold accordingly in the 1.5-year-old ewes
Mr Byrne said the top end of the ewe lambs were a little bit below expectations but the tail end of the ewe lambs "hung on alright".
"I thought the sale for the lighter turning out type ewe lambs was also pretty alright," he said
Buyers predominantly came from the rural regions surrounding Ballarat, while ewe lambs stayed local to Bendigo with some heading to Boort and Birchip.
"Not many sheep went to the north east and probably limited numbers went to Gippsland as opposed to other years where the region had supported the sale," Mr Byrne said.
A pen of 1.5-year-old Border Leicester/Merino ewes, sold by J & J McCahon, Moliagul, with an average weight of 75kg, topped the day selling for $385 a head.
Agents were lucky to get past $300 from that point, with only a few other pens going past that mark, including one of 142 1.5-year-old Border Leicester/Merino ewes, 68kg, belonging to GT, JA, RL & WA Exton sold for $306.
M & B Perryman also sold 115 1.5-year-old Border Leicester/Merino-cross ewes, 75kg, for $374.
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Ryan Raglus, Euroa who was attending his first ewe sale at Bendigo, said he went through a lot to get to the point of selling his first ever pen of 40 Border Leicester/Merino-cross ewes,
Euroa had been inundated from the flooding of the Seven and Castle Creeks, and his property is still drying out.
He was excited nevertheless for the months ahead and remained optimistic despite the price drop seen at the sale.
"There has been a bit of a dip in the market I've been told, so in many ways I'm just going to see what happens," he said.
"We decided to take up farming as it was just a new good lifestyle for the family and wanted to be in an area where kids can grow up and get a bit of income from our block of land.
"I try to learn a lot of questions, talking to agents all that kind of stuff, and getting a lot of information in a short period of time has been useful for next year."
Mr Ragals said the last few months in particular had been a bit of "a whirlwind" and the learning curve on his new property has been steep.
"All of a sudden we had a lot to deal with and we've lost a bit of access to our property at the moment," he said.
"That constant wet being so late in the season has been a surprise and not ideal to have begun my farming, but that's just the situation that we are in."
Other significant sales included AM & JR Wiltshire, who sold 68 1.5 year-old Border Leicester ewes, 82kg, for $290.
Oasis Olives sold 224 1.5-year-old Border Leicester/Merino-cross ewes, 68kg, for $300.
RH, JD & R McNutt sold 84 1.5-year-old drop Border Leicester/Merino-cross ewes, 60kg, for $272.
TJ & JM Brodie sold 200 1.5-year-old Border Leicester/Merino-cross ewes, 64kg for $274 and another pen of 99 1.5-year-old drop Border Leicester/Merino-cross ewes, 58kg, for $232.
PM & CM Mason sold 188 June 2022 drop Border Leicester/Merino-cross ewes, 46kg, for $205, and another pen of the same breed and age, 39kg, for $220.
