A trickle of ewes with lambs-at-foot turned into a flood at Stortford Lodge, as they made their annual pilgrimage down from their hill paddocks of Northern Hawke’s Bay.
Sitting alongside Feilding, these two yards cumulatively offer up the biggest supply of this class nationwide and at Stortford Lodge, 2700 ewes and 3600 lambs graced these pens from August to November in 2019, which was on the low side compared to other years though as more paddock sales were completed. In 2017, tallies totalled just over 6000 ewes and 8500 lambs at this yard.
There are a few extra buyers looking into this market this year which has given it a boost, not that it needs one given it is a niche and quite lucrative anyway.
The regular purchasers have been joined on the rails by out-of-towners from further south, who have a bit of feed up their sleeves and are keen on the smaller outlay that this class offers.
Also elbowing in are local farmers who had to make the tough decision to cull breeding ewes due to the drought and are now looking to get lambs on the ground to keep the farming systems ticking over.
With each different buyer comes a different set of preferences and that can make this market a hard one to judge.
Docked lines are looked upon more favourably than lines that are yet to meet the docking crew, but the majority of those offered still have that task ahead of them.
Older lambs take precedence over lambs that are under two weeks old and, more often than not, lines with a lower ewe:lamb ratio are targeted over a line that is teeming with lambs.
Ewe condition also has a significant impact and this year rearing lambs has not been an easy task for the girls given what the season has thrown at them.
To date, this year’s market for similar conditioned ewes is trailing 2019 levels only by $5-$10, with most still managing to sell for $105-$110 all counted.
There is opportunity to buy lines priced either side of that level, though $80 seems to be the floor and only a select few have exceeded $120.
