Over recent weeks it has certainly been centre of conversations with varying degrees of excitement. Of course, no one is saying they have had too much but while much of the country has received something, eastern areas and Northland are still looking for more.
Like the amount of rain that has fallen the impact on lamb markets has varied. While the weather is not the only factor affecting markets it is certainly one of the leading ones. Between the islands buyers’ approach to the sales has been different and prices are stronger in the South Island, which in itself is unusual.
Buyers in the North are still approaching with a bit of hesitancy and, not surprisingly, lighter, long-term lambs have been harder to sell. Regions such as the Central Plateau that have feed have been notably stronger at sales while the likes of Hawke’s Bay buyers are tending to approach with a bit more caution. Significant rain would change that in a heartbeat but every Hawke’s Bay farmer knows how quickly the bay can dry off. Lambs at Stortford Lodge are still trading at a 25-30c/kg premium to last year though and being on the rails one can see they have a good following of regular buyers, from both local and outside areas.
In the South Island where grass is pushing the fences down (a popular quote of a South Island agent) lambs to sale yards have been minimal but there have been a few on-farm sales through Canterbury where buyer attendance was very high, especially locals. These sales provided the first real opportunity to buy good volumes of new season lambs and many relished that opportunity. Results from the on-farm sales were up on previous years and most store lambs traded at $90-$125.
