Griffith Sheep Sale Report

Lamb numbers eased slightly, and it is interesting to note the shorn lambs easily at 4900 in the draw easily outnumbered the woolly young lambs at 2000 head. There wasn’t a lot of weight in the yarding and most of the young lambs were showing dryness and some seed in the skins, for a yarding that buyers had to pick through to find quality. Prices were firm to dearer again, the plainer tradeweight lambs selling very strongly. The mutton sale also had a dearer price tone and there was multiple sales over $300 per head for heavy ewes. One agent did remark that older sheep were coming out of paddocks with a lot of weight and condition, whereas lamb weight and condition was often below expectations.

There was limited weight in the lamb run, a small pen of 12 extra heavy shorn lambs topped at $396.20/head while three pens of export grade young lambs made from $358 to $375/head. After this there was a lot of trade to heavy crossbred and Dorper lambs from $270 to $320/head. On a carcass basis the estimated rate across the bulk of sales was 1120c to 1200c/kg plus on some trade lambs. There wasn’t many lighterweight lambs and restockers were quiet, partly due to little on offer and partly due to the strong market. Better style lighter crossbred lambs $200 to $250/head. Merino lambs to $270, although most tended to be lighter types at $213 to $256/head. A run of very light unshorn Merino ewe lambs made $171 and $180/head back to the paddock.

The sheep yarding had some quality heavy mutton which reached $374.20/head for big Merino ewes in a short skin, while Dorpers reached $344 and crossbreds $336/head. About a dozen lines of sheep sold above $300/head. Sheep were estimated as averaging between 800c and 900c/kg to processors but within individual pens often at 900c/kg plus.

Market reporter: Jenny Kelly