Vendors sold a total of 30,000 sheep and lambs at Wagga and numbers dropped from the previous week on the back of what had been some cheaper trends.
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According to Meat and Livestock Australia’s National Livestock Reporting Service the quality across the offering varied with good numbers of shorn trade and heavy lambs. Longer wool lambs sold to mixed price trends as buyers went in search of shorn types.
All major trade and export buyers were operating. New season lambs trade lambs were in short supply.
Medium and heavy trade lambs made from $143 to $159.20/head averaging 649c/kg cwt.
Shorn trade lambs were once again keenly sought. Well shaped trade lambs regularly sold from 630c to 656c/kg cwt. Heavy shorn lambs were well supplied and prices in general were $4/head dearer.
Heavy shorn lambs sold from $166 to $180/head. Extra heavy shorn lambs made from $174 to $225/head to average 630c/kg cwt. There were very few restockers or lot feeders operating causing prices to fluctuate.
Store lambs sold from $96 to $136/head. It was a mixed quality offering of mutton with all weights and grades represented.
Most buyers were operating however competition was subdued over all categories. Heavy mutton made from $114 to $164.20/head. Trade sheep prices were erratic, selling from $74 to $130 to average 396c to 440c/kg cwt.
SHEEP PROJECTIONS:
Stable lamb production and a decline in mutton production is forecast for 2018 as producers maintain intentions to expand their flocks and high wool prices provide an incentive to retain Merino wethers.
This was the message from the latest Meat and Livestock Australia sheep projections.
The national sheep flock is forecast to expand a further 2.5 per cent in 2018.
Lamb and sheep slaughter are both expected to drop slightly in 2018, to 22.5 million head and 7.2 million head, respectively. A small increase in lamb carcase weights will help offset the lower slaughter, resulting in stable lamb production at 514,000 tonnes carcase weight (cwt).