Two distinct buying patterns emerge at Bendigo today
- By: "Farm Tender" News
- Ag Tech News
- Mar 16, 2020
- 1267 views
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Yarding - 35,000 (-9120).
Lambs - 27,000 (-6370).
Sheep - 8000 (-2750).
About 27,000 lambs were yarded as selling resumed after the Labour Day long weekend. Quality remained very good, with a lot of lambs still coming in off grain. Two distinct buying patterns emerged based around lamb size. Heavy export lambs, particularly those above 30kg cwt, averaged $20/head cheaper than a fortnight ago. However, competition for good domestic lambs remained firm and even improved as the auction progressed, amid reports meat is currently in high demand at supermarkets and butcher shops as consumers stockpile food over fears about Coronavirus. The supply of light weight lambs was again limited, and restocker and processor demand for suitable MK stock kept prices for these lambs firm to dearer.
Five pens of extra heavy shorn lambs sold above $300 to top at $330, but as a rule, most export processors were reluctant to push above$290/head. It created some erratic trends and price estimates for the heaviest lambs showed a widespread of 800c to 900c/kg to settle at averages of 830c to 840c/kg cwt over the main lines. Lambs suiting domestic orders found better support, and these still tracked over 900c/kgcwt. 22-24kg cwt lambs in short skins sold from $206 to $238 to average $224/head. Good Merino lambs showing weight and fat cover made from $204 to $267/head at an estimated 850c to 870c/kg cwt. Overall any reasonable slaughter lamb above 22kg still made over $200/head. The better bred lines of light weight lambs sold from mostly $130 to $180/head, with some high carcass estimates again recorded for lambs selling back to the paddock.
Bidding for mutton was buoyant despite a mixed yarding that did offer some good lines of Merinos and crossbred but included a lot of smaller pen lots of varied quality. A northern exporter again dominated bidding for heavy processing sheep, with big crossbred ewes making from $200 to a top of $269; Merino wethers sold from $225 to $280; and heavy Merino ewes made from $220 to $276/head. It was estimated the good runs of mutton were costing processors over 700c, hitting 800c/kg cwt at times.
https://www.bendigo.vic.gov.au/Services/Bendigo-Livestock-Exchange
https://www.bendigo.vic.gov.au/Services/Bendigo-Livestock-Exchange
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