WITH early parts of the state winding up harvest, thoughts have turned to buying in stubble-munchers to run during summer months.
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This has meant the store lamb job has enjoyed strong bidding competition at markets across SA.
Dublin saleyard manager Andrew Lepley said it was a mixed bag for the prime lamb sale on Tuesday.
"It was a fairly ordinary yarding of lambs this week," he said.
"The best of the heavy export lambs were $2 to $3 dearer, with the best making up to $140."
While crossbred demand was relatively subdued, it was a different story on the store job.
"The biggest increase this week was from the number of buyers wanting to buy store lambs," Mr Lepley said.
"People are looking to buy up and put a few store lambs on their stubbles, as the paddocks are free.
"It was to the extent that shorn store lambs were probably the dearest in the yarding on a per-kilogram basis this week."
Store lambs made from $80 to $105 at the sale.
Mr Lepley said a spike in lamb prices was a distinct possibility in the new year.
"There's still plenty of lambs from the western district of Vic through to Ballarat, Vic, yet to sell," he said. "But once those numbers dry up and we come to the end of January, through to autumn, we could see a reasonable spike in the price of lamb."
While there was a strong contingent of store lamb buyers in SA, Mr Lepley did not think the numbers to buy were as high as the same time in previous years.
"To me, there's not as many lambs to go onto stubbles as you'd normally see this time of year," he said.
"I think there could be a shortage of numbers, particularly by the time autumn comes."
Orroroo sheep producer and Livestock SA president Geoff Power said it was a good time to be in the sheep game.
"There's a lot of optimism among sheep producers at the moment, the future looks very good," he said.
"Asia is hungry for protein, particularly with the rising middle class in China becoming more westernised.
"I just see a huge future for sheep and for wool.
"The wool market is buoyant and about $2/kg up on where it was last year."
Producers in pastoral areas are also enjoying one of their best seasons.
"Pastoral areas have had two to three good lambings, so sheep numbers in the north are up," Mr Power said.
But Mr Power anticipated a price jump in the new year.
"The South East is very dry and there would have been an early sell-off," he said.
"I think on the back of that there could be a bit of a spike in prices, because it will make it harder to find numbers."
Landmark Anderson & Fawcett's Colin Fawcett reported an increase in store buying interest at the regular sale at Mount Pleasant on Thursday last week, with stores making to $99.
