The main focus of yesterday's Feilding sale was the supplementary ewe fair, alongside a reasonable lamb yarding but another small cattle sale.
Over 11,000 ewes sold to reasonable demand with good numbers of buyers along the rails and a couple of large mutton traders underpinning the market if required.
Prices of note are; 118 Romney two-tooths from Holly Farm, Marton, at $148 (although Puketiro Station came with a withering late run and sold 25 two-tooths for $150); 235 Romney four-tooths from B & J Draper, Pori, for $145; 506 Romney 5 year olds from D Hintz, Taihape, for $116.
There were reasonable numbers of lighter conditioned older ewes offered but the lurking meat buyers did not operate in large numbers as sale prices held up well enough.
The lamb sale, which also numbered over 11,000 head, was dominated by a large entry of lambs from drought affected regions of the North Island. Lamb sale prices also held up well.
On a strict cents/kg basis prices eased slightly but, when the obvious store condition of the lambs was considered, sale prices held well enough and most vendors of those drought affected lambs would have been mightily relieved and satisfied with the money.
The day's top price was for lambs that were not drought affected when Sandon Rises, Sanson, sold 115 woolly cryptorchids for $93.
Good numbers of male lambs sold over or around $80 as well with, again, no top ewe lambs on offer.
The cattle sale was a small affair again with a seeming shortage of cattle looming which may help the market.
Good cattle sold to solid demand with only the much lesser sorts harder to shift.
A large entry of 82 heifers and calves from Te Ranga, Raukawa, started the sale to good inquiry around $1340-$1440.
There were few steers on offer - 4 big Hereford/Friesian steers from RD Johnson, Palmerston North, sold for $2230 ($2.79) but these were works cattle.
The rising two year steer section was firm but on low numbers.
Bulls were steady - 13 solid rising three year Angus bulls from RFT, Feilding, made $1700 ($2.98) and Totara Grove, Halcombe, sold 19 rising two year Friesians for $1100 ($2.61).
The strongest section of the day was the rising two year heifer section.
Three pens of rising two year Angus heifers from Mangahane Station, Taihape, although younger and lighter cattle, sold very well around the $2.91-$2.97/kg levels to stand out.
Available cattle numbers may soon rival the lack of good store lambs.
Sheep (22,758): ewes (11,388); 2ths (4745), $80-$150; 4ths (235), $145; MA-6yo (6,408), $67-$116; lambs (11,207); 37-42 kg, $80-$93, $2.14-$2.31, slight ease; 31-35 kg, $72-$81.50, $2.30-$2.52, slight ease; 24-30 kg, $59.50-$72.70, $2.10-$2.54, slight ease.
Cattle (710): steers; R3 (51), 428-797 kg, $1185-$2230, $2.77-$2.91; R2 (128), 270-464 kg, $830-$1385, $2.64-$3.16, firm; bulls; R3 (13), 569 kg, $1700, $2.98; R2 (138), 276-421 kg, $740-$1100, $2.57-$2.85, steady; R1 (47), 110-164 kg, $405-$600, $3.63-$4.65; heifers; R3 (7), 401 kg, $1060, $2.64; R2 (172), 311-477 kg, $875-$1245, $2.61-$2.97, lift; R1 (53), 121-149 kg, $500-$540, $3.62-$4.30; heifers (82) and calves, 500-538 kg, $1220-$1245, $2.31-$2.44; cows (19) and calves, 518-700 kg, $1340-$1440, $1.91-$2.78.