Farmers dig deep for top-quality sheep at Dannevirke ewe fair

Ewe: One of the 454 Romney two-tooth ewes sold on behalf of McAuley Farms of Matamau at the annual Dannevirke ewe fair last Thursday. Three hundred were sold for $211 a head, with 154 going for $204 a head. Photo / Christine McKay

After an extremely tough and wet Tararua winter, auctioneers were pleased with the top quality stock penned for the Dannevirke ewe fair last Thursday.

Rain had given confidence to buyers with good prices paid. However, processing companies on the lookout for killing stock had a lean time as they were outbid by farmers looking for good stock.

Children from a neighbouring property had a bird's eye view of the annual Dannevirke ewe fair last week.

"Tararua ewes have years and years of good breeding and many are genuine hill country ewes," auctioneer Bjorn Anderson said before selling away the first pens of the day, from Angus McAuley's property at Matamau.

Interest was high and the first 300 two-tooth Romneys, of 454 up for sale, went for $211 a head, top price for the sale. The rest of McAuley Farms line - 154 - sold for $204 a head.

"These are real quality stock," auctioneers said.

Auctioneer Bjorn Anderson urges bidders for this pen of 297 Romney two-tooth ewes on behalf of Ben Morrison of Weber. While reaching $190 a head, they were passed in to be negotiated after the sale.

At the February combined Dannevirke-Pahiatua ewe fair last year, the top price was $112 a head paid for 276 four-tooth Romneys. More than 11,000 head of stock were sold at last week's ewe fair, a 10-year high, with the quality good, lifting prices.

But old farmers remembered the days when 40,000 mixed-aged ewes were sold along with high numbers of two-tooths. As well as the annual draft ewes, there were capital stock lines from vendors, with prices ranging from $200 a head for big two-tooths, down to $140 for 223 head from Glenheath Farming in Dannevirke to lower-priced stock from Tom and Prue Deighton's Rata Farm at Ormondville.

A Carrfields livestock agent sells one of the pens of the 11,000 ewes on offer at the Dannevirke Saleyards last Thursday.

Great shifting ewes from Benmore Farms from under the Ruahine Ranges sold for $155 a head, while 148 from the Putara Valley in Eketahuna which had all lambed as hoggets went for $158.