Feilding Store Stock Sale

Stock levels were way down due to storms but sheep still did well at the sale.

Stock entries for this sale were absolutely decimated by the stormy weather with road closures and on-farm conditions leaving many vendors unable or unwilling to consign stock in both the sheep and cattle sections.

The same reasons also affected many buyers and very few were operating. As a consequence, sale prices were clearly affected and there will be further ongoing effects as vendors try to offload when they can.

Two useful pens of scanned in lamb ewes were offered at the start of the sale and, after firming recently, these did look to be cheap enough again today. 174 shorn, scanned 5 year old ewes from Agresearch, Aorangi, sold for $151 with a good scanning percentage of 174 per cent.

Four pens of good male lambs started the lamb section and these would have enhanced any lamb yarding. Potaka Station, ReuReu, sold 245 cryptorchids for $134 and 262 more for $133.

Merchison Estate, Hunterville, also received $133 for 168 ram lambs. This part of the lamb offering was affected the least with regard to sale prices.

Once the ewe lambs and medium to lighter lambs were offered, the sale prices clearly eased and lambs were passed in. G & J Adkins, Wanganui, sold 182 ewe lambs for $106.50 to top the ewe lamb sections but many lambs sold for prices not seen for some weeks. It would be reasonable to expect prices to lift again once the weather and track conditions improve.

The cattle yards were a sorry sight with only 13 lines of cattle entered and those better quality cattle available stood out like beacons.

These were from two vendors with T & G Eade, Marton, selling two pens of rising two year Angus steers - the top 16 selling for $1635 ($3.28). WD Falkner, Marton, offered the other entry of better cattle with two pens of rising two year Angus heifers.

The top dozen of these sold for $1300 ($2.94). These two lines of cattle sold at comparable cents/kg levels to recent weeks but the rest of the cattle yarding was not inspiring and probably just there to be got rid of.

Some farms will need repair but the sun will shine again, one day, and some improvement in prices can be expected.

Sheep (2,557): ewes (493), SIL (210), $146-$151; lambs (2,064); 41-45kg, $120-$134, $2.68-$3.26, slight ease; 36-39kg, $98.50-$111, $2.66-$3.10, ease; 31-34kg, $84-$105, $2.58-$3.20, ease; 26-30kg, $69-$86, $2.62-$2.95, ease.
Cattle (89): steers; R2 (30), 410-498kg, $1150-$1635, $3.28-$3.31; R1 (8), 207-255kg, $750-$910, $3.16-$3.57; bulls; R2 (6), 347kg, $1000, $2.88; heifers; R2 (29), 265-441kg, $620-$1300, $2.34-$3.16; R1 (16), 190-237kg, $570-$750, $3.00-$3.52.