The station is steeped in history and generational farmers James and Liv Hore continue many traditions to this day. Seven-hundred Hereford cows, 10,000 Merino wethers and 20,000 halfbred ewes run on the hills of the 42,000-hectare property, but the focus this week was on the 8500 lambs offered up on-farm to willing buyers. Nestled almost halfway between Queenstown and Invercargill, the property is a hike in, but regular buyers from mid and north Canterbury make the journey most years, though last year’s sale was held on bidr due to lockdown. Dry conditions in buying regions have put a damper on an otherwise positive lamb market, but James was satisfied with the results from the sale.
“I’m happy considering how dry some areas are. It appears that buyers are tipping out crossbred lambs and buying halfbred due to the higher wool value, which helped our market,” James said.
Autumn is targeted as the time to sell by the Hore family, as they have then taken the lambs as far as they can before they shut up shop for winter.
“It is a bit of a novelty as we can take the lambs through to this time of year to the best of our ability and move them at a time when they are at their optimum level return-wise for us,” he said.
Around 8500 lambs were offered, and line sizes were generally over 1000 head. Top halfbred wethers made $116, medium $106 and third cuts, $85-$95. The Texel-cross mixed-sex had more weight to them than the halfbred and sold up to $117, with medium $110 and lighter, $95. Both sections were estimated to trade at $3.30/kg liveweight. Halfbred ewe lambs made top dollar at $100, medium $86 and lighter, $80.
