As the days get shorter and feed levels tighten up, the need to look after ewes means any lambs left are shipped out the gate. PGG Wrightson agent Jonty Hyslop says “Now that we are getting toward the end of the lambs we are seeing everything, warts and all. Quality is compromised as most vendors can’t fatten any more and are offloading.”
Also noted at Temuka was a reduction in competition from regular buyers. Mid Canterbury is typically very strong but there was an obvious drop in interest last week. “Those regular buyers that have been relied on throughout the season were not as powerful, with most now at winter capacity,” Hylsop reported.
The change can be seen at the North Island yards too, with larger instances of ewe lamb lines as farmers draft out replacements and offload the surplus. While mixed sex are now few in number they are trading at a clear discount to males though results are similar to ewe lambs. Manawatu PGG Wrighston agent Phil Transom said any price adjustments have been quality related with demand remaining at high levels. “Quality is starting to taper off and that is the main influence on any softening of prices. With so many lambs coming through Feilding some weeks saturation points were reached but prices were back up the following week. Demand has held up right to date as new grass and crops have been slow to get going, which has meant some buyers are coming to the market later than is typical, keeping the competition on the rails. I don’t think anyone can complain about the prices this year and I haven’t heard anyone do so.” Transom also suggested if sellers are down to the tail end lambs it is still worth sex drafting to reach the optimum price for them. “Small lines of males especially will sell at a premium to mixed sex lines so it is worth the little bit of extra effort.”
