Lamb prices continue to tumble

Lamb prices continue to fall as Wairarapa and Tararua sheep farmers quit store lambs fearing an approaching summer drought could dry up feed supplies needed for capital stock.

Latest sales figures from the Dannevirke sales show top-quality lambs were fetching around $80 a head but that few pens of these were available for sale.

Instead, there has been bountiful offerings of mostly small to medium store lambs, selling for around $50.

These prices are down markedly on what was being realised at this time last year and well short of prices achieved the year before that when sheep and beef farmers enjoyed a lift in prices that allowed many to recoup ground lost to the then-booming dairy industry.

Federated Farmers meat and fibre chairman in Tararua Hamish Buchanan said whereas the drying off of pasture was not yet critical for many farmers the situation was changing rapidly, with moisture levels now at a state of dryness not normally contemplated until late December or in January.

This, he said, lead to nervousness among farmers that feed supplies would not be sufficient to feed store lambs and capital stock. With big numbers of lambs being offered for sale the laws of supply and demand had cut in and prices were coming back fast.

"It's almost the complete reverse of last season when it rained and rained and farmers who normally sold stock were holding them and fattening them," Mr Buchanan said.

Whereas farmers living close to the Tararua Ranges would have better feed supplies, being in the green belt and farming to those conditions, those elsewhere and especially in coastal areas were looking at much drier conditions.

Throughout the entire district it seemed less silage was being cut, due to less growth, and fewer paddocks were locked up for hay.

Meat and Fibre chairman for Wairarapa Stephen Pound, who farms at Mauriceville, said prices paid to farmers through stock taken to the works had dropped back significantly on last year, by about $3 a kilogramme.

Lamb prices at sales appeared to be running at about $20-$30 less a head than this time last year, he said.

Mr Pound said along with little rain had been cold ground temperatures and latest information given to Federated Farmers indicated silage production was running at about two-thirds of last season's cut.

Other indicators were few paddocks reserved for hay and evidence that paddocks eaten off were taking longer to recover.