RESTOCKERS and local processors helped create strong competition at the annual Murray Bridge woolly wether lamb sale on Monday, with the sale topping at $256 - a major improvement on last year's top of $173.

New season lambs were firm to $5 cheaper, while store lambs sold firm, at Ouyen, Vic, on Thursday.

BUYERS competed on a much smaller yarding of sheep and cattle at Mount Pleasant on Thursday last week, but prices remained strong.

Prices reached $270 at Murray Bridge's first prime and store lamb market of the season on Monday - $115 up on last year's opening sale - with strong interest from restockers and processors.

New season lambs made to $11 a kilogram at the Ouyen Livestock Exchange on Thursday.

RETURNS for new-season lambs will depend heavily on whether supplies begin to replenish at markets across the state, as many producers continue to weigh up if they are better off selling lambs in the coming weeks or waiting for higher weights to be achieved.

Prices were dearer at the Ouyen sheep market in Vic on Thursday.

KAROONDA will host its first sheep sale in 13 years, with 5000 young ewes and breeding ewes going under the hammer on August 18.

The winners include farmers from Victoria and NSW.

Tattykeel Certified Australian White ewes topped an AuctionsPlus sale at $988