Auctioneers were smiling despite the rain and slow bidding at the Dannevirke ewe fair on Thursday. Photo/Christine McKay
Auctioneers were smiling despite the rain and slow bidding at the Dannevirke ewe fair on Thursday. Photo/Christine McKay
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 sectionwas 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.
