Sellers pushed up by the season and needing to off-load stock, won an outstanding result at a special Bendigo store lamb sale on Thursday.
Offered slightly in excess of 11,200 crossbred and merino lambs, all being autumn 2018-drop, buyers from a wide area of the state, and interstate, supported the sale with destinations such as Leongatha, Tasmania, Shepparton, Horsham, Katamatite, Hamilton, Ouyen, Swan Hill and Birchip all requiring load-out trucks.
In a sale conducted by Elders and Landmark, the lead drafts of 1st and 2nd -cross finishing type lambs were mostly sold in a price range of $120 to a best of $140. These were mostly the more mature, well grown and fresh conditioned types while most second-draft lot generally made $100-$125.
The market top, however, was a pen of 1st-cross ewe lambs – Border Leicester Merino- cross – that were sold unshorn at $164 while a second draft of the same made $161, both these sold by Charville of Mathoura to an Elders Bendigo client.
However it was in the pens of lighter fattening types where prices took a extra-ordinarily strong lift, well beyond the wildest dream of agents as these lambs made $80 to $99. Most were consigned off Riverina station country and were small, dry types estimated weigh 8 to 12 kilograms liveweight.
Merino lambs also gained an eager following with the highest priced lambs sold, shorn, at $122. These were a Woodpark-blood line offered G & C Maxtead of Jarklin while another Woodpark blood lot offered by the Mulquinney family of Wooroonoke made $119, unshorn.
Other Merino lines, sold shorn and unshorn, made $54 to $102 a head.
Landmark auctioneer Richard Leitch described the result as “enormous” for vendors and yet buyers would still do well with their purchases.
“All of our vendors would have normally kept these lambs, don’t have the opportunity to do so this year” Mr Leitch said. “And if the season continues to remain dry, we as agents may well be required to convene another special store lamb sale to ease the pressure of our Monday lamb and sheep yarding” he said.