These 3-4 year-old scanned in-lamb Merino ewes at Warren in NSW sold for $122 on AuctionsPlus last week.

ONLINE sheep and lamb buying interest was strongest for scanned in-lamb and joined Merino, first cross and composite ewes last week.

But store crossbred and Merino wether lamb prices dropped further on AuctionsPlus.

Overall commercial sheep and lamb listings dropped 9 percent last week, after a 42pc drop the previous week. The clearance rate also fell, but the Value Over Reserve was strong, with a lift of $5.

The ARLI Indicator, AuctionsPlus’ restocker indicator, more than doubled last week’s increase of 47c/kg to 103c/kg to hit 667c/kg.

The average price for the 8094 crossbred lambs fell by $2/head to $124 with a 98pc clearance rate. Only 27pc of the 4064 Merino wether lambs listed sold from $53-$97 to average $67, down $8. Processors bought of the offering last week.

All of the 867 composite/other breed lambs offered sold from $126-$142 to average $133, up $4.

At Henty in NSW, 450 July-August 2023 drop mixed sex Suffolk cross lambs weighing 46kg lwt sold for $159, or 343c/kg, to a buyer in Echuca, Victoria

At Coonamble in NSW, 305 July-August 2023 drop Merino wethers weighing 42kg lwt sold for $97, or 232c/kg, to a buyer in Coonamble, NSW.

Joined ewes lift $8-$20

Joined ewes sold firm or experienced average price increases of between $8-20 across all categories, except for the joined shedding breed ewes that sold from $100-$186, to average $112 down $8.

Listings were down across all states except South Australia, with producers from that state putting an additional 2583 head on the market. South Australian buyers were also more active, purchasing an additional 1375 head more than they did the previous week. Queensland and New South Wales buyers were significantly less active.

Only 44pc of the 7585 scanned in-lamb Merino ewes sold for $64-$148 to average $110, $8 lower.

Note: Prices as at 5pm Thursday, 23rd May 2024.

Source – AuctionsPlus.