About 20,000 lambs from 12 vendors were sold across nine properties in the wider Burkes Pass area of inland South Canterbury.
Most were store lambs but a good number of primes sold well for processing,with a top price of $160 and the better types trading up from about $130. The second cut of primes sold at $120 to $129, PGG Wrightson’s South Canterbury livestock manager Joe Higgins said.
The best store lambs sold from $90 up to $105, with mediums in the $75 to $89 range and lighter lambs $60 to $74.
On a successful day, all prices were up a bit on expectations.
A feature of the sales was the performance of nearly 4000 halfbred lambs from some of the higher farms, notably Ranui Station, Mt Dalgety Station and the McKerchar offering at Single Hill, Higgins said.
All stores, they were chased up by traders and finishers planning to take the wool off them in the late winter and spring then finish them for processing.
The halfbreds are a breed of their own now but trace back to Merino so the wool carries a premium over crossbreds.
That meant the store value was also at a premium.
The lambs weren’t weighed but he estimated they traded in the $3.50/kg to $4/kg price range, against the typically $3/kg and a bit for the other breeds.
The halfbred value held up even though they sold later in the day, reflecting the reputation built up over the years, he said.
On a per-head basis the stores fetched an extra $15 to $20 more than last year’s sale with the halfbreds up about $30.
Rollesby Valley is dry country and though all lambs were well-presented some were a bit lighter because of the very dry conditions, especially in the last two months.
The lambs are typically undrafted, all being weaned in the few days before sale.
The onfarm sales are timed for early February and vendors do well to hold them that long, to coincide with the big demand for lambs from cropping farmers on the plains and coastal zones post-harvest, Higgins said.
Those farmers mainly buy the bigger stores and will have them away for processing by winter.
The lambs are bound for North Otago and South and Mid Canterbury farms, with some heading up to Marlborough.
There’s a lot of farmer interest in buying and fattening lambs, more so than committing to breeding programmes and the sale prices indicate continuing confidence in the high lamb schedule remaining in place for at least the next 12 months.
The Rollesby result was very encouraging for the Omarama (morning) and Tekapo (afternoon) sales this Thursday (February 15), which together are likely to have another 20,000 or so lambs offered, he said.
They will include good numbers from Central Otago following the closure of the Cromwell saleyards. About half the yarding will be blackface-Merino cross lambs.
Rain in Southland did not come quite soon enough for the big early-February two-tooth ewe sale at Lorneville.
There’s just not enough feed in the province at the moment to encourage buyers, PGG Wrightson’s regional livestock manager Andrew Martin said.
Of the 11,000 2-tooths yarded on Monday, more than 3000 remained unsold.
One exceptional line of Border-Leicester ewes, offered by long-time vendor Jack Hillis, made $272 and there were other good prices but generally the market was difficult, and not all the animals could be placed, he said.
About half the yarding was Border-Leicester and outside the top-price, good-to-medium ewes sold between $210 and $240, with lighter lines in the $185 to $200 range.
About the same number of crossbred sheep were also offered, mainly Romney-cross, CoopTex and Coopdales. The top ewes fetched $190 to $200, and the next line of sales were at $170 to $190.
Mutton and lamb schedules are well ahead of this time last year but the feed situation, very dry since mid-November, meant that this year’s 2-tooth prices were only similar to or slightly up on last year.
“We just ran out of buying power,” Martin said.
“The ewes that didn’t sell now will be sold when the feed comes in and we’ve had two or three substantial rains in the last 10 days and the feed will definitely come through.”
The ewes presented for sale were in excellent condition, given how dry it has been and given the schedule levels there would have been a very strong sale otherwise, he said.
The dry conditions mean more lambs have gone north to other regions than in any other season Martin can remember.
Two-tooth ewes sold strongly at the Balclutha ewe-fair.
Top price was $204 for a pen of Wairere Romneys, PGG Wrightson’s Otago head auctioneer Chris Swale said.
After a very dry summer so far, rain on the Thursday night brought in a few more buyers for a look, those who had been in a 50-50 frame of mind beforehand because of the conditions.
South Otago is a sheep-breeding area and all 2-tooths on offer were sold.
About a third of the ewes were capital stock, reflecting changing farm practices, Swale said.
The capital stock ewes fetched the best prices with a pen of Romneys at $202 and some TEFRoms at $200.
For other stock, a pen of Romdales made $192 and some Lithdale Romney ewes $190.
