A majority of ewes sold at the second of two annual Border Leicester/Merino first-cross ewe sales held at CVLX Ballarat on Friday, will be heading to within a 100 kilometre radius of Ballarat.
The sale was a slight contrast to the first annual sale held in December in which agents came as far as Mildura for that sale.
Prices for top pens kept firm with the top selling price being $272 a head for a pen of 160 May/June 2022-drop ewes from Pura Pura vendor Rogers Farming.
Another pen of 120 those May/June 2022-drop ewes sold for $260.
Agents yarded 10,000 1.5-year-old ewes at the sale which averaged just below $200.
TB White & Sons livestock agent Tom Madden said many good lines of sheep were taking advantage of some good feed around locally.
"A lot of sheep got over $200 and we saw probably a bit more strength in this sale," he said
"There were not as many sheep but more buyers were around, with some sheep from vendors being $30-40 dearer than our last sale."
He said that many lines that were prominent for the regular January sale were being supported by a significant number of local repeat buyers.
"We found that to be pretty relevant today, particularly with a lot of the local buyers wanting to get a few sheep, especially after some recent rain events here," he said.
Gippsland agents took up the opportunity to buy up the better end of the ewes, which Mr Madden said was relatively normal for the annual sale, "but we were relatively pleased that many sales stayed local"
Rob Armstrong, Cornhilll Pastoral, Langi Logan was another good performer of the day, selling a pen of 194 August 2022-drop vendor-bred ewes for $265.
Mr Armstrong said he had a lot of challenges over the last 18 months due to plenty of rain in his locality.
"The sheep haven't grown out like that normally do, and they have washed out a bit because the last few rains have taken out the bloom off them a bit," he said.
"You try really hard to get them right, but unfortunately the weather plays a big part in getting them perfect."
Despite being pleased with getting one of the higher prices of the day he said he was seriously considering moving to cropping.
He said a recent downward price trend had made sheep farming not feasible at times.
"For the two years it takes to prepare these sheep for sale, it is sometimes just unviable" he said.
"You could crop a paddock over those two years and probably make more money out of it than in the sheep game at the moment.
"I've been doing this for 30 years, and there are ups and downs where you just have to ride with it and do your best."
Fraser Brothers sold a pen of 165 June/July 2022-drop ewes for $260, while another pen of 273 ewes from the same drop sold for $235.
Wimmera Downs sold 155 Arpil/May 2022-drop ewes for $260.
G & M Lyttle sold 154 June/July 2022-drop ewes for $235.
SA & TM Seers sold 171 April/May 2022-drop ewes for $238.
Lehmann Farms sold 63 July/August 2022-drop vendor-bred ewes for $230.
Overall, agents yarded just about 15,000 sheep, with 1500 mature-age sheep of more than two years or older and a run of 4000 ewe lambs.
There was good competition on some older ewe pens, with Cairn Curren attracting strong competition and selling a pen of their 137 May/June 2021-drop ewes for $226.
Of the younger sheep Bartlett Farming topped the section, selling 110 April/May 2023-drop ewe lambs for $194.
A small run of about 80 rams were sold after the older ewes in a pick-of-the pen format, with Valed, Mount Mercer, selling two standout Poll Dorset rams for $720 and Alcone selling three Poll Dorset rams for $700.
