Sheep sold well at yesterdays Feilding stock sale
The buyers did seem to enjoy themselves during the course of the sheep sale at yesterday's Feilding Prime Stock Sale, but it may well have been wry, gallows-type humour as the sale prices paid for hoggets and ewes reached new heights for this selling season.
The cull ewe market, in particular, is going gangbusters and those who need them are already becoming concerned about what they will have to pay for breeding ewes in coming months. Those ewe buyers nibbling at the fresh two-tooths are being well beaten by the meat traders already.
The hogget sale started strongly with a large line of 279 from Gordon Downs selling for $179, but this price was later beaten by Puketauru Coopworths selling 19 big cull ram hoggets for $201. All hogget sale prices lifted and it almost reached the stage where medium weight hoggets were nearly selling for as much as the heavyweights.
Any vendor with hoggets remaining that have not cut their adult teeth could be in for a rewarding few weeks, although the store hoggets offered yesterday did not break any records.
Four small lines of spring lambs were offered and these did not alter much on last week. B Hill sold a dozen for $142 but there remains no real new season's premium over hogget prices.
Most of the ewes sold yesterday had reared lambs so were in the medium weight range. The yarding increased in number after some more docking over the long weekend.
All ewe sale prices lifted o $186 for heavy Dorset Down ewes from Chris Wall and some agents were hard pressed to get their clients to believe the prices. Male sheep prices ranged from dog-tucker rams to the fresh male two-tooths, so there was quite a range with this year showing the least discount for fresh two-tooths below their siblings with lambs' teeth for some years.
The entire cattle yarding, which was not large, came from the dairy herds with every beast Friesian or Friesian cross. The steers and heifers were small and plain and sold at lower levels but there were some better cull cows offered and these improved in price levels with the good cows firming more than the straight boners.
Sheep (5436): lambs (54), 18-34kg, $71-$142, $3.94-$4.20; hoggets (3164), heavy prime (1664), 51-65kg, $161-$201, $3.10-$3.30, lift; medium prime (1327), 40-50kg, $132.50-$166, $3.20-$3.50, lift; store (173), 31-38kg, $91-$132, $2.80-$3.45, firm; ewes (2157); good heavy (668), 26-40kg, $135-$186, $4.70-$5.40, lift; medium (1254), 21-25kg, $105.50-$136.50, $5.00-$5.50, lift; lighter (99), 18-20kg, $85-$97, $4.75-$5.00, lift; 2ths (136), $76-$134; male sheep (57), $62-$140.
Cattle (64): steers (5), 257-310kg, $623-$645, $2.01-$2.51; heifers (3), lesser sorts, 290-330kg, $635-$712, $2.16-$2.19; cows (56); good, heavy, 500-760kg, $1050-$1695, $2.04-$2.30, lift; boners, 380-520kg, $691-$904, $1.65-$2.07, firm.
Manfeild Park Calf Sale
About 100 calves were offered yesterday at the last sale for this season, with the calf sales shifting to the Feilding Saleyards next Monday. Beef cross bulls and heifers continue to sell well.
Bulls: Friesian; good, $110; medium, $40-$55; Angus X, $180-$190; H/Fr X; $150-$180.
Heifers: Angus X, $110-$140; H/Fr X; good, $165-$210; medium, $95-$120.