Feilding Prime Sale

Lamb entries were up on last week

The only notable change in the yarding numbers at yesterday's Feilding Prime Stock Sale in comparison to last week was a reduction in the cull cow offering. Even with the first decent frost on top of wet paddocks, the cow entry dropped by over 120 head so this cow cull may be as shortlived as many have predicted.

Lamb entries were actually up on last week. It is noticeable that many prime lambs in those preferred weight ranges that would once have gone straight to the meat plants are being sold through this prime sale instead.

These are the lambs that would kill in the 17-20 kg carcase weight range and are good grading lambs as well, so this sale is no longer just the destination for over-prime or overweight lambs. The heaviest lambs are still the sale price headline act but the medium lambs sell at much higher cents/kg.

Yesterday, J Stephenson sold 10 lambs for $153.50 with A McAlley and N Kreegher beating or equalling $150/head but two thirds of the prime lamb yarding were medium carcase-weight lambs and sold to firm demand.

Store lambs, of which there were over 630, sold to firmer demand than the Friday store sale.

Where the sheep market really hit the bit was in the ewe section. With two more buyers operating on still limited numbers, this section lifted across the board.

Ewe numbers are likely to remain constrained until scanning gets under way but everyone knows ewe numbers are still dropping.

One good Hereford steer sold for $2016 ($2.80) but overall the cattle sale was reasonably steady. There were few beef heifers to excite the market, most of the heifers being Jersey and Friesian cross and thus lower yielding cattle.

There were more in-calf cows offered this week and the buyers were specific in their activity for in-calf, in-milk boner and grazing cows. This resulted in a steady cow market overall.

Of interest in the bull section was an 880kg Charolais bull that sold for $1742 ($1.98) compared with the heavy bulls over a tonne last week that could only make $1.25/kg. 4 Angus/Hereford cross bulls sold for $1909 ($2.70) to put that into perspective.

Sheep (6837): lambs (5538); heavy prime (1639), 50-65kg, $136-$153.50, $2.20-$2.70, firm; medium prime (3267), 40-50kg, $115-$135, $2.60-$2.80, lift; store (632), 24-42kg, $70-$125, $2.60-$2.80, firm; ewes (1,090); good, heavy, 26-30kg, $115-$136, $4.40-$4.50, lift; medium, 21-25kg, $89-$113, $4.20-$4.50, lift; lighter, 16-20kg, $63-$85.50, $4.00-$4.30, lift; poor, $33-$44; RWR (168), $82-$136; 2ths (8), $95-$111; male sheep (33), $37-$110.

Cattle (286): steers (8); 465-720kg, $1064-$2016, $2.38-$2.80, steady; heifers (23); 320-450kg, $675-$1084, $1.90-$2.41; lesser sorts, 142-400kg, $339-$864, $1.32-$2.39; cows (238); good, heavy, incalf; 414-673kg, $819-$1244, $1.79-$2.04, steady; boners; 352-595kg, $538-$1059, $1.53-$2.10, steady; lesser sorts; 390kg, $557, $1.43; bulls (16); 380-880kg, $760-$1909, $1.98-$2.81, firm.