2021 season buoys lamb weights
03 March 2022
Key points:
- Lamb turn-off weights in 2021 were favourably influenced by the seasonal conditions.
- The first half of 2021 saw average variation turn-off weights higher than the 10-year average by 2.2kg/head.
- Improved carcase weights and strong overall lamb price performance delivered stronger gross margins for producers in 2021.
Above-average conditions experienced in many sheep regions during 2021 supported a significant uptick in average lamb carcase weights compared to the 10-year average, MLA analysis shows.
After a wet and warmer finish to 2020 generated high volumes of quality pasture and grasses, average turn-off weights at the start of 2021 were 9% or 1.9kg/head heavier than the 10-year average.
Despite having the opposite effect on 2021 cattle weights, favourable seasonal conditions during 2021 only served to drive high lamb turnoff weights compared to the 10-year average.
Throughout 2021, lamb turn-off weight variations were 2kg/head or 9% higher on average than the 10-year average.
The above-average conditions of the first six months in 2021 saw the average turn-off variation compared to the overall year sit at 2.2kg/head or 10.4% higher than the 10-year average.
From a production perspective, the steady decline in turn-off weights from the year’s peak in July can be attributed to the end of winter and broadly speaking, an extremely wet finish from spring through to summer 2021 and beyond.
These milder and wetter conditions impacted pasture growth rates and quality as well as the ability of lambs to gain weight due to the weather, which ensured lambs “tucked up” and didn’t gain weight as favourably as other spring seasons have afforded.
2019 drought
Analysis also demonstrates the difference that the uptick in containment feeding of both lambing ewes and lambs alone made to turn-off weight performance in 2019.
Although the country was experiencing the worst drought in 100 years, containment feeding programs negated the lack of available pasture so that average turn-off weights were only slightly lighter by 1.8% or 380g/head to the 10-year average during this time. Improvements in genetics and management will also have contributed to this resilience seen during 2019.
Key takeaways
- With prices across all categories operating in historically high deciles in 2021, the 2kg/head increase in average turn-off weights for lambs translates directly into higher gross margins for producers.
- Regardless of location, the cooler and wetter conditions in the second half of 2021 clearly impacted the weight gain performance of lambs. This showed that despite above average rain, growth rates can be hindered by high moisture content in pastures and wet ground to walk – limiting weight gain performance and therefore expected turn-off timeframes.
