Feilding prime Stock Sale: Prices ease for light hoggets

The latest from the yards.

There was a little less buying pressure on just over 4000 hoggets which lead to a slight easing in hogget sale prices. Three-quarters of the hoggets were heavy and prime but a high proportion of the lighter and medium weight hoggets were just not quite finished.

Time is running out to finish them so the decision to sell them makes them someone else's problem and may help with any remaining hoggets.

Ewe hoggets topped the sale with 11 blackface ewe hoggets from Pinegrove Farm selling for $190 and 15 shorn Texel cross ewe hoggets from John McLean making $189. These were all heavy prime hoggets with the best the males could make being $182 for 37 from Te Kawa Farm.

The heaviest hoggets probably changed very little in cents/kg and it was the medium weight section, which has been going so well, that backed off a tad.

A couple of hundred store hoggets sold to steady demand.

Not unexpectedly, ewe numbers continued to ease but if the weather does not improve there may well be more wet-dries in the future. Heavy ewes continued to lift in prices with the lightweight ewes remaining steady. There was only a handful of 2ths and male sheep offered.

Very little could be said about such a small cattle market. One impressive Hereford cow from PL & D Chapman sold for $1605 ($2.23) but, once again, there were no male cattle offered. It was hardly a true market but the good cows offered lifted with the boners steady. The wet conditions may be keeping some cattle back.

Sheep: (4,520): hoggets (4,039); heavy prime (3,001), 51-68kg, $153-$190, $2.80-$3.10, slight ease; medium prime (839), 42-50kg, $136-$155, $3.10-$3.30, slight ease; store (199), 28-44kg, $80-$132, $2.85-$3.40, steady; ewes (463); good, heavy (181), 26-28kg, $128-$142, $4.80-$5.00, lift; medium (196), 21-25kg, $91-$121, $4.30-$4.90, firm; lighter (69), 16-20kg, $55-$80, to $4.00, steady; 2ths (17), $120; male sheep (18), $50-$115.

Cattle (29): heifers (2), 410-480kg, $820-$878, $1.83-$2.00; cows (27); good, heavy, in calf, 523-720kg, $1040-$1605, $1.91-$2.26, lift; boners, 360-470kg, $622-$893, $1.69-$1.92, steady.

Manfeild Park Calf Sale, Monday

Calf entries levelled out at around 330 with the market solid for well-marked calves.
Bulls: Friesian; good, $160-$200; medium, $130-$150; H/Fr x; good, $240-$285; medium, $185-$225; A/Fr x; good, $100-$135; medium, $70-$90; Sim x; good, $280-$305; medium, $190-$230.

Heifers: H/Fr x; good, $200-$250; medium, $140-$170; A/Fr x; good, $100-$110; medium, $75; Sim x, $145-$220.