A large yarding met with strong demand from an unexpectedly strong buyers gallery at the annual in-lamb ewe fair at Temuka.
There was much anticipation among vendors and livestock agents as to how the sale would track with the bigger yarding of 12,000 ewes on offer – as well as this being the first time the sale was live-streamed.
“There was a huge buyer gallery, that was not expected, and there was strong demand from people looking for a one-year ewe to carry through, lamb down and then exit the ewe and lamb,” Hazlett livestock manager Ed Marfell said.
“This saw buyers chasing the earlier lambing ewes pushing the prices for the older, good scanning, terminal sire ewes, which then reflected in the capital stock lines.”
The lack of condition in some of the capital stock lines encouraged better money on the heavier mixed age ewes, particularly those due to lamb in August.
Buyers also showed some confidence in their purchases in the hope that there is light coming at the end of dark tunnel for the sheep market, Marfell said.
PGG Wrightson South Canterbury livestock manager Joe Higgins said the yarding was bigger than the autumn ewe fair when sheep were worth “next to nothing” and feed was available to carry them on in the hope of getting a bit more for them later.
“This in-lamb sale result is a bit of a reflector attracting the larger numbers with people bailing out a bit.
“Good scanning percentages sold at a premium and above expectation and no sheep went to slaughter, all went to be lambed down so that has to be a positive,” Higgins said.
Buyers came from Canterbury, Otago and Southland and despite parts of Canterbury still being dry, with recent rainfall and scanning underway some farmers were on the hunt to top up numbers with the bulk of the sale yarding dispersed across wider Canterbury.
Opening the sale were 5700 capital stock ewes, most of which had come from lease expiries or property sales, with many in light to medium condition with lower scanning percentages.
The top sale of the day were one- and two-shear Coopdales that scanned 214% to a Suffolk-Beltex ram and fetched $196.
Most of the capital stock ewes made $120-$135 but up to $150 was paid on the best, which was Perendale that scanned at 168% to a Suftex-Beltex ram.
The best of Romneys sold from $134-$150 with older and lighter condition selling from $102-$128. Border Romneys across the board ranged from $120-$126 while the younger Coopworths sold up to $134 and mixed age at $128. Border Leicester one-shear ewes hit $136.
Overall, sales were about $40 to $80 back on last year.
Live-streaming for the first time proved a valuable experience for the future of sheep sales, Temuka Sales Selling Company (TESSCO) operations manager Noel Hewitson said.
“While there was very little sold, the auction ran smoothly and we did have 200 people watching. Forty of those were registered buyers.”
“A couple of smaller lines were sold near the end of the sale, but we weren’t expecting people to be falling over themselves to buy as this is a new concept for us and it will take off in time.”
Hewitson acknowledged the season was a particularly tough one for online bidding.
Making an accurate gauge of ewe condition without being at the rails is difficult.
“People are not confident buying breeding stock online, they like to look and poke at them in the pens, it’s not like buying cents per kilo as a cattle sale, but it will likely come to weighing sheep, like cattle, when we move more into live-streaming of sheep sales.”
