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Wednesday daily sheep summary

15 July 2015


Lamb consignments at Forbes declined 42% week-on-week, to 20,041 head, and overall quality was fair with good numbers of well finished lambs on offer along with the few plainer types. Heavy and extra heavy weight lambs made up the majority of the yarding along with a good selection of Merinos. Mutton numbers decreased  50%, to 4,231 head, and Merinos were best represented. Quality was very mixed.

  • Light weight 3 score lambs improved 42¢ on 594¢/kg cwt
  • Trade weight 4 score lambs were 15¢ higher on 618¢/kg cwt
  • Heavy weight 4 score lambs were up 57¢ on 621¢/kg cwt
  • Extra heavy 4 score lambs increased 47¢ on 603¢/kg cwt
  • Medium weight 3 score Merino ewes fell 4¢ on 407¢/kg cwt

Lamb throughput at Ballarat was back 50%, to 5,344 head, and quality was typical of a winter yarding. With most of the regular group in attendance, buyers operated selectively in the colder conditions, with lambs generally selling around last week’s levels. Sheep consignments declined 11%, to 3,960 head, and quality improved on the previous sale, with fewer numbers of light weight sheep penned.

  • Light weight 2 score lambs were down 30¢ on 565¢/kg cwt
  • Trade weight 3 score lambs slipped 5¢ to 598¢/kg cwt
  • Heavy weight 4 score lambs dropped 8¢ to average 594¢/kg cwt
  • Medium weight 3 score Merino ewes gained 10¢ and averaged 386¢/kg cwt

At the close of Tuesday’s markets:

  • Eastern states restocker lamb indicator increased 35¢ to 519¢/kg cwt
  • Merino lambs jumped 19¢ to 549¢/kg cwt
  • Light lambs increased 9¢ to 552¢/kg cwt
  • Trade lambs were 5¢ higher on 580¢/kg cwt
  • Heavy lambs were up 9¢ to 580¢/kg cwt
  • The mutton indicator slipped 2¢ to finish on 386¢/kg cwt

Note: All yardings and prices referenced are from MLA’s National Livestock Reporting Service (NLRS) reported saleyards.