Buyers flocked to the annual winter ewe fair in Dannevirke on Thursday.
However, buyers and those "just looking" from the Wairarapa, Manawatu and the Hawke's Bay were faced with a smaller number of stock on offer compared to last year, pushing up prices.
The top price in the ewe section was for a pen of 154, 5- and 6-year-old scanned in-lamb (SIL) ewes from D.B. and J. Lindsay. They made $128.50 a head, up $10.50 on the top ewe price last year.
At the other end of the scale 129 mixed-age ewes sold for just $64 and a pen of ewes SIL at 125 per cent, fetched just $80, almost works value, auctioneers said.
The good weather this season has resulted in good ewe scanning percentages, with Dan Ramsden of Akitio telling the Dannevirke News, his results were a record. "I've never achieved this percentage before," he said.
