One word - amazing - was the consensus after the Bendigo Premier Exclusive Breeders crossbred sale on Wednesday.
Agents Elders and Nutrien yarded a total of 13,295 which included 3918 ewes and 9078 lambs and was interfaced with AuctionsPlus.
One-and-a-half year old Border Leicester/Merino ewes sold to $446 and all but two pens of that age made more than $400.
Vendors quoted their prices at more than $100 a head above the 2019 sale.
Elders branch manager and auctioneer, Nigel Starick, said it was "an amazing sale, unbelievable".
"Our expectations before the sale of the top price was based on AuctionsPlus, been phenominal, Corowa had a good day, Wycheproof was strong last Friday, it's just following through," he said.
"I think we are in a rebuilding phase. We've been through drought, fires and floods in the last two or three years and now everyone is back in a rebuilding phase.
"The strength and confidence in the red meat industry is amazing. It's reflected in the prime markets where a good Merino ewe is making $180 to $190, a good trade lamb at $170, so you're talking $370 plus the wool. That makes around that $400 that you can spend when its consistent with what you're selling."
Mr Starick said the main buying support was repeat buyers.
"You could throw a blanket over the entire one and a halfs and that was reflective in the prices with little difference across the penning," Mr Starick said.
"The lead of the ewe lambs gets better every year. The genetics and growth people are putting into the lambs to get them to a joinable weight. The number of joinable lambs here today was the most I have ever seen here."
Nutrien livestock manager, Nick Byrne, said the the one and a halfs showed the bloom of the season.
"Breeding these sheep has become an art form and it's good to see them get the rewards," he said.
He said that on the 1.5 year old ewes it appeared $400 was the start-up price.
"We were happy for our clients to match and sometimes exceed their expectations," he said.
"Of the ewe lambs the joinable pens sold from $370 to $400 with another run of lambs $320 to $370 and very difficult to find anything under $300."
Top of the sale was $446 paid for a pen of 150 ewes, 2019-drop, sold account Andy Hay, Kamarooka. The price this year was $114 higher than the 2019 consignment. The same vendor sold 142 ewes, for $438.
Best presented pen was part of a draft from Ravens-Hoe Pastoral, Ravenswood South, that comprised 140 ewes, that sold for $435. The same vendor sold a pen of 1.5 year old ewes that made $422.
It also had a draft of 2020-drop ewe lambs with the tops selling for $364 for 92 that weighed 51.4 kilograms.
Golden Wattle, Quambatook, forwarded a draft that saw the seconds out sell the tops making $432 for 194 while 185 tops made $422. They had a third line of 101 ewes that made $412. Its lambs sold to $380 for 159.
JE & RN Roberts, Axedale, forwarded a draft that included a pen of 159 ewes that made $430 and a second line of 100 that made $427 and 112 at $420.
A draft account Cadell, Mathoura, NSW, topped at $426 for a pen of 78, as well as a pen of 142 that made $416.
A consignment of 637 account IL & WA Laurie, Rushworth, sold to top of $428 and averaged $415.
A pen account AR & JM Wiltshire, Prairie, comprising 97 weighing 87kg, sold for a top of $428.
Top of the ewe lambs was a pen of 172 sold account JM & PJ Darker, Boort, that made $400. The seconds from the draft comprised 125 that sold for $392.
AD & RL Gawne, Yando, sold 190 ewe lambs that sold for $386.
M & B Perryman, Fairfields @ Mysia, Mysia, sold two pens of lambs with the top 140 making $384 and the seconds $320 for 190.
The Springrove Trust, Yarrawalla, sold a consignment of ewe lambs with the tops making $380 for 208, while the other lines made from $312 to $372.
HM Barty & Sons sold a draft of May-June 2020-drop ewe lambs that sold to a top of $320 for a pen of 110 that had an average liveweight of 45kg.
