These 3.5 year-old November shorn Merino ewes scanned in-lamb to Poll Dorset rams sold for $120 at Monaro in NSW on AuctionsPlus last week.

DEMAND was strongest for joined and scanned in-lamb ewes on AuctionsPlus last week, with most category prices firm to higher.

The online commercial sheep and lamb listings dropped 42 percent to 38,308 head, potentially indicating it was not a week vendors wanted to test the market after the announcement of the live sheep export phaseout date, AuctionsPlus said.

Value Over Reserve more than halved to fall by $6. Value Over Reserve can be an indicator of a falling or rising market, but in this instance may just be signaling the difficult week, AuctionsPlus said.

On the back of reduced supply the overall clearance rate was steady, falling just one percentage point. AuctionsPlus said it was encouraging to see that the Crossbred Lamb Indicator only fell 2pc to $126 after rising 25pc the previous week, and even better to see the restocker indicator increase by 47c/kg.

The average crossbred lamb price fell by $2 to $126 with a 95pc clearance rate.

The average price for composite/other breed lambs dropped $17 to $129 in a listing that was 43%pc smaller than the previous week. The 791 head offered were all sold.

The average price for the four largest joined or scanned in-lamb ewe categories rose $22-$33, but the mean price for unjoined shedding breed ewes dropped $46 or 126c/kg to $105.

New South Wales producers listed more than a third less than the previous week, while Victorians and South Australians dropped more than half. The same states purchased significantly fewer sheep and lambs last week. Queensland purchases doubled to 2003 head.

Processors were back in action this week, snapping up more than 6pc of the offering, up from 2pc the previous week and a massive lift from the half a percent two weeks ago.

AuctionsPlus offered 5324 crossbred lambs and the average price fell $2 to $126/head for a 95pc clearance rate.

At Freeling in South Australia, 250 September-October 2023 drop White Suffolk cross lambs weighing 42kg lwt sold for $146, or 347c/kg lwt to a buyer in Loxton, SA.

The Merino wether lamb offering fell 37pc to 6701 head, and the average price lifted $6 to $75 for a 49pc clearance.

At Wycheproof in Victoria, 219 May-June 2023 drop Merino wethers weighing 56kg lwt made $122, or 217c/kg lwt, with a buyer in Stawell, Victoria.

AuctionsPlus offered 9432 scanned in-lamb Merino ewes, but only 40pc sold for an average price of $103, up $22.

Note: Prices as at 5pm Thursday, 16th May 2024.

Source – AuctionsPlus.