Farm Tender

Market erratic at Bendigo today

Yarding - 34,767 (-233).
Lambs - 26,887 (-133).
Sheep - 7880 (-120).

More lambs were yarded than agents expected as fears over what could happen next regarding Coronavirus prompts farmers to sell. The regular buying group attended, and while some processors were quiet, all made purchases. But the market did weaken, with the bulk of the lamb categories showing corrections of $15 to $30/head. Bidding also ebbed and flowed throughout the auction and the market was difficult to follow at times. Hardest hit by the discounting were plainer lambs in rough skins, or small and mixed pen lots of a few head. Competition across the best trade weight lambs, supplemented off grain and in short-skins, was still reasonable and they held their value the best.

The heaviest export lambs over 30kg cwt sold from $239 to a top of $283, with the estimated carcase price across the main runs easing down to 775c/kg. Underneath this was a lot of sales from $190 to $225 regardless of weight, with this price range covering good processing lambs that weighed from 23kg to nearly 28kg cwt. On a carcase basis the bulk of these lambs were making from 780c to 860c, for averages of between of 820c to 840c/kg over the better quality fat score 3 and 4 categories. Medium and lighter domestic processing lambs made from$170 to $190/head. Small lambs under 18kg cwt sold from $120 to $155/head for the better bred lines, with local agents still sourcing store lambs against MK processing orders and some feedlot activity.

The sheep sale was also erratic, and fluctuated around quality and weight. Any feature lines of heavy Merino wethers and ewes were only marginally cheaper, while plainer and mixed lots did recorded sharper price corrections. Big Merino wethers made from $236 to $250/head to still be estimated around 700c/kg cwt. Heavy Merino ewes in the 26-30kg cwt range also sold firmly at $183 to $220 to still average over$200/head. Plainer and mixed mutton eased back to between 630c and 680c/kg.