Prime lambs were snapped up by processors prepared to pay the schedule rate plus a premium, Rural Livestock Canterbury livestock manager Donald Cooke said of the Stokes Bros sale at West Eyreton, near Oxford.
He preferred not to disclose the premium but schedules were at and above $7kg.
Store lambs were also in demand, fetching $3.50 to $4kg – at the top end for lighter animals – with about 1000 heading to farms in Southland, another 1000 to Central Otago and the rest staying in Canterbury.
The better animals among them would be set for processing pre-Christmas at what should be good margins for the buyers, Cooke said.
There was strong inquiry for store lambs but not enough available to meet demand though he expected that to change when drier pasture conditions emerged.
Generally, across both the North and South Islands lambs were two to three weeks behind where they would usually be because of consistent rain and a lack of sun.
The east coast of the North Island from Hawke’s Bay to Gisborne was better, according to PGG Wrightson North Island livestock manager Tom Mowat.
Southland, with its later lambing season, had reportedly had a bumper spring.
Mutton was at record values not far off $5kg because of Chinese demand and the processing companies needing to fill space at a time when there was a supply gap between last year’s lambs and the new season’s crop, Wrightson South Island livestock manager Shane Gerken said.
“That price through the yards is unheard of. The companies are using mutton as a filler between the old and new lambs.”
At the West Eyreton sale, cull ewes fetched $170-$180, Cooke said. About 1000 were sold, mainly for processing. About 1000 hoggets were also sold at good prices.
The mutton price was a good sale incentive.
“What we’re finding is the odd farmer weaning his lambs early, selling the old ewes and boxing on with the lambs.
“They drench the lambs and put them on to good feed and they’re doing well and probably better because the ewes aren’t there eating the grass.”
It was hard for agents to tell farmers to hold off selling ewes and possibly get another $20 or more a bit later.
“We can’t put our hands on our hearts and say they will get that extra then.”
That meant five-year and older ewes being sold.
Mutton contracts went through to the end of November and values were expected to come off the highs after that. Cooke still expected the traditional ewe sales in January and February to have reasonable supply.
NZ Farmers Livestock’s Taumarunui-based King Country regional manager Alan Hiscox said farmers could get more for ewes now than they were getting this time last year for two-tooths.
“They’re getting unbelievable prices.”
It had been wet, cool and windy through the wider King Country and other northern sheep areas and lambs were about three weeks behind where they normally would be.
“When you drive around you notice that the lambs are lacking a bit of bloom and where you’ve got ewes and lambs in a paddock there’s not a lot of feed now that lambs are eating a bit of grass.”
Mowat said good lambs going through the Stortford Lodge yards in Hastings were selling for $4.50/kg to $5/kg, depending on weight.
Farmers who had been able to get early lambs away for processing were now buying in store lambs to replace them.
Wrightson had run one early spring lamb sale in Canterbury, the Annandale sale reported in last week’s Farmers Weekly.
That was exceptional with Annandale being on very early north facing slopes on Banks Peninsula. Otherwise, the region’s lambs were a couple of weeks behind typical growth rates, Gerken said.
The Annandale store lambs sold in the $3.60 to $4/kg range, better than expected but still leaving a margin for the finishers.
Canterbury was quiet in terms of sale activity over the A&P Show week and it would be another couple of weeks before the spring lamb season really got going.
The market signals remain good, he said.
The schedules would come off the $7-plus level but the industry talk was that they could be about $6/kg though the main part of the season.
“That’s positive, great to see.”
That would be about $1/kg higher than last year.
The slow season was one reason for low lamb sale numbers but NZXAgri analyst Rachel Agnew said where there was plenty of grass some breeders were also hanging on to lambs to finish them themselves.
Gerken agreed, saying a lot of farmers would be sitting on the fence for a while to see how the growing season unfolded.
The very high ewe sale prices could have implications for next breeding season if too many were sold for processing though Hiscox believed mainly the older ewes were being culled and farmers wanted to step up their breeding numbers because of the good lamb outlook.
However, a lot of surplus ewe-lambs were sold for processing in September.
Mowat said that if five- year ewes were among the high numbers being sold for the good money on offer it would be a worry for those farmers who bought older ewes for breeding.
