By JONATHON HOWARD
PRIME lamb yardings swelled dramatically at Warwick Saleyards last week on the back of a jump in prices, including a winter record price of $127 for heavy lambs on 26 June.
Last week’s lamb and sheep yarding was the largest winter sale thus far, with 1884 total head yarded with 1403 lambs.
The significant lift in numbers was no doubt due to the burgeoning lamb market, although Delta HLB and Company selling agent Des Makeham said the price lift, particularly for heavy lambs, was due to a lack in supply of quality heavier finished lambs.
Mr Makeham expected there would be a reduced number of lambs offered this week and said the market could have already peaked.
“In the short-term (prices) may lift a bit more, but certainly not to the levels of 2010,” he said.
The $114 to $127 top price honours went to T.D. Cooper of Bony Mountain and sold to Ashtons Butchery.
In the north the market has improved significantly, according to Elders Tamworth branch manager Craig Young, who said producers were in a good position with grazing crops now ready for stock.
He said the recent rain had slowed the supply of lighter weight restocker-type lambs, but there was still a good proportion of the saleyard offering in the heavier weight ranges.
The impact of rain had also been evident at Forbes where a pen of extra heavy export lambs made $186 a head last week.
Meanwhile, at Cowra, Norman C. Bellamy livestock agent Damien Stephenson said lamb numbers had steadied.
“We’ve usually been yarding between 5000 and 6000 lambs,”Mr Stephenson said.
“We are getting down into the bottom drafts of last year’s lambs, and we are not far off our new season lambs – they will probably be a month away.”
He said lamb quality overall had been good.
“While there have been a few plainer types, about 80 to 90 per cent of the yardings have been of pretty good quality.”
