Competition keen for quality Wethers at Bendigo

Yarding - 20,000 (-3500).
Lambs - 14,000 (-5000).
Sheep - 6000 (+1500)

Lamb supply dropped by nearly a third to 14,000 head, 5,000 less than a week ago. There was less supersized export lambs yarded, with the lead drafts in most agents runs not going over 34kg cwt this week. Interest from export buyers dropped away again, with some companies hardly operating at all. It resulted in cheaper and fluctuating price results over lambs sized above 26kg cwt. The best trade and light lambs sold at rates close to last Monday, while plainer and odd pen lots of a few head were discounted. Local agents continued to support well-grown but plainer conditioned trade lambs to feed on for the winter market.

The heaviest export lambs sold from $232 to a top of $256, for a loss on paper of $18, but noting there was no supersized pens at 38kg to40kg cwt like recent weeks that have been selling above $270/head. The carcase price for heavy export lambs eased to an estimated 740c/kg.

Bidding was selective across the heavy lambs 26kg to 30kg cwt which ranged from $205 to $230/head for a ballpark result of 750c/kg cwt. Nicer weighted domestic processing lambs sold similar to last week at $188 to $208/head. The price range on trade lambs was 720c to800c/kg depending on quality and weight. Restockers were active on the unfinished trade-weighted lambs showing frame at $160 to$186/head. Merino lambs continued to sell strongly against the crossbreds with buyers favouring their higher skin returns.

Slightly larger offering of sheep, with the increase in numbers mostly from bigger lines of Merino wethers. Big heavy crossbred ewes were only available in limited numbers. Competition for quality wethers remained keen with prices firm to sometimes dearer than a week ago, costing an estimated 650c to 700c/kg cwt.

**List your commercial Sheep, Cattle, Rams or Bulls on our Farm Tender Livestock Exchange (powered by Farm Tender). Starting at 1% commission if you sell. Reach between 8000 - 10,000 potential customers per day. Contact our Livestock Marketing Agent Hannah Anderson on 0429 479 072 for more information