New season lambs are expected to be a few weeks slower hitting the market than normal, due to the late season break in many areas and early frosts and cold winter days slowing down pasture growth.
Many producers will be in no hurry to sell either, with prices at least $20 to $30 a head back on the same time last year. They will be hoping prices lift when the long, drawn out season of older lambs comes to an end and processors increase their throughput.
On Monday, at the first lamb sale for the season at Murray Bridge, lambs topped at $190 - compared to $270 at the same sale in 2021.
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Last week at Ouyen, Vic, new season export lambs made $190-$220.
On Tuesday, at the SA Livestock Exchange at Dublin, there were just in excess of 3000 lambs offered in the weekly sale with crossbred lambs topping at $190 for 46 heavy lambs from Bruce Nominees Pty Ltd, Kadina.
Merino lambs with weight proved to be in demand, and reached a top of $206 for 31 extra heavy lambs from TP&MM Ottens, Wharminda.
Elders Dublin/Yorke Peninsula livestock manager Matt Ward expects bigger lamb yardings of 10,000-15,000 head will not be seen at Dublin until late September.
"A lot of lambs might not come onto the market but not a lot of lambs are contracted after September either - so numbers will pick up then," he said.
Mr Ward believed reduced throughput at Dublin in recent weeks was largely a flow-on effect from a "tough upbringing" for this year's lambs.
As older lambs were just about cleared out of the system, fresh lambs were dribbling through the saleyards and reaching fair returns, he said.
Mr Ward predicted producers could potentially again see the high prices gained in 2018.
"With lambing percentages at well over 100 per cent in most areas - high prices would be a big win," he said.
"Conception rates have been brilliant but early lambs have been affected by the tough start."
As the SA Mallee begin to deliver lambs, Nutrien Ag Solutions Murray Bridge stock agent Kev Keller says lambs were without a doubt in good condition but slightly delayed from market.
"Overall, the lambs are quite impressive but slow to come up to spec," he said.
"The cold conditions have slowed everything down but a bit of sunshine in the coming weeks will fix most of that."
Mr Keller expected prices for lambs to "move around" a bit throughout the main prime lamb selling season, as supply and demand was very unknown.
"We know the lambs are around, lambing percentages have been pretty good across the area and definitely on-par with other years, so the supply should be fine," he said.
"Demand is the bigger unknown. There is a bit of a backlog of lambs and it is difficult to export meat overseas at the moment."
In the Upper South East, lambs are looking fresh but Elders Coonalpyn's Bryan Biddle says they are not weighing as well as they look.
"If we were getting $9/kilogram carcaseweight, we would go down a couple of kilograms (in cut off weight) but now to get a $180-$190 lamb you need to have a 24kgcwt lamb," he said.
"Where we may have got 400 lambs out in the first draft of a mob last year, it might only be 160 making weight, but a couple of weeks of sunshine on their backs it will be totally different."
He said there had also been very good lambing percentages and a higher number of twins, which have slower growth rates.
Mr Biddle says lamb prices are on the lower end of where producers would like to see them but historically $7/kg-$8/kg is still " good money" for prime lambs, especially if it can be on the higher end of this range.
"We have had very good prices for the last few years but the cost of living has gone up and the cost of diesel, producers won't want to see it drop away far off," he said.
"At the same time they can't be expecting $200 for store lambs every year.
"It depends if people paid $300-$400 for (first-cross) ewes last year. Those prices are alright when everything is going along well but harder to pay back when prices drop."
Mr Biddle hopes when older season lambs in the eastern states run out, many of which have been discounted by meat companies due to grass seed concerns, there may be a strengthening in the new season sucker market.
"The good producers, who produce the right product, will be rewarded. I have already sold a big wing of lambs for a client as stores returning $9/kg-$10/kg coming back at $140-$150 for a 35-36kg lamb," he said.
PPHS's agent Paul Kinnaird is excited about holding its first Pinnaroo lamb sale, hoping to yard 6000-7000 head in their new yards on August 29.
In the past he said their clients' lambs would have been sold on-hooks, at Ouyen or on AuctionsPlus but he said they were keen to showcase the quality breeding in the area and make it an annual fixture.
"It has been a great season on the east side of the Mallee and on the western side, while it has been quite tight, they are starting to catch up," he said.
"Some of the March/April-drops will be in the mid to high 50kg and a few may even be close to 60kg."
He says it is fortunate timing that the lamb market is on the rebound after being "quite tough" six to eight weeks ago in the eastern states.
"Hopefully we will see some good prices. I'd expect prices this season will level out between $7/kg-$8/kg but people selling store lambs will not be rewarded quite like they were last year," Mr Kinnaird said.
Another feature in the coming fortnight will be Elders' Eyre Peninsula Circuit Sale on September 7 where more than 18,000 head of sheep and lambs will be yarded.
They will be offered at 10 stops across more than 100 kilometres from Tungatta, south of Elliston to Piltra at Baird Bay.
