8 Stock are warming climate Vol 16 No 45, November 20, 2017
farmersweekly.co.nz
$3.95
Incl GST
Prices unbelievable What we’re finding is the odd farmer weaning his lambs early, selling the old ewes and boxing on with the lambs.
Alan Williams alan.williams@nzx.com
A
BOUT 4000 lambs were sold in a big Canterbury onfarm auction highlighting their current high
values. Prime lambs were snapped up by processors prepared to pay the schedule rate plus a premium, Rural Livestock Canterbury livestock manager Donald Cooke said of the Stokes Bros sale at West Eyreton, near Oxford. He preferred not to disclose the premium but schedules were at and above $7kg. Store lambs were also in demand, fetching $3.50 to $4kg – at the top end for lighter animals – with about 1000 heading to farms in Southland, another 1000 to Central Otago and the rest staying in Canterbury. The better animals among them would be set for processing preChristmas at what should be good margins for the buyers, Cooke said. There was strong inquiry for store lambs but not enough available to meet demand though he expected that to change when drier pasture conditions emerged. Generally, across both the North and South Islands lambs were two to three weeks behind where they would usually be because of consistent rain and a lack of sun. The east coast of the North Island from Hawke’s Bay to Gisborne was better, according to PGG Wrightson North Island livestock manager Tom Mowat. Southland, with its later
Donald Cooke Rural Livestock
I WANT TO TAKE YOU HIGHER: PGG Wrightson Livestock auctioneer Jonty Hyslop, right, takes bids at the Temuka sale yards last Monday.
lambing season, had reportedly had a bumper spring. Mutton was at record values not far off $5kg because of Chinese demand and the processing companies needing to fill space at a time when there was a supply gap between last year’s lambs and the new season’s crop, Wrightson South Island livestock manager Shane Gerken said. “That price through the yards is unheard of. The companies are using mutton as a filler between the old and new lambs.” At the West Eyreton sale, cull
ewes fetched $170-$180, Cooke said. About 1000 were sold, mainly for processing. About 1000 hoggets were also sold at good prices. The mutton price was a good sale incentive. “What we’re finding is the odd farmer weaning his lambs early, selling the old ewes and boxing on with the lambs. “They drench the lambs and put them on to good feed and they’re doing well and probably better because the ewes aren’t there eating the grass.”
It was hard for agents to tell farmers to hold off selling ewes and possibly get another $20 or more a bit later. “We can’t put our hands on our hearts and say they will get that extra then.” That meant five-year and older ewes being sold. Mutton contracts went through to the end of November and values were expected to come off the highs after that. Cooke still expected the traditional ewe sales in January and February to have reasonable supply.
NZ Farmers Livestock’s Taumarunui-based King Country regional manager Alan Hiscox said farmers could get more for ewes now than they were getting this time last year for two-tooths. “They’re getting unbelievable prices.” It had been wet, cool and windy through the wider King Country and other northern sheep areas and lambs were about three weeks behind where they normally would be. “When you drive around you notice that the lambs are lacking a bit of bloom and where you’ve got ewes and lambs in a paddock there’s not a lot of feed now that lambs are eating a bit of grass.” Mowat said good lambs going through the Stortford Lodge yards in Hastings were selling for $4.50/ kg to $5/kg, depending on weight. Farmers who had been able to get early lambs away for processing were now buying in store lambs to replace them. Wrightson had run one early spring lamb sale in Canterbury, the Annandale sale reported in last week’s Farmers Weekly.
Continued page 3
Reduce labour costs. Install Autodrafting with Walk over Weighing One-man job in shed over AB = no extra labour Set drafts for ‘bulling’ cows in paddock or race with phone app
$24,999 Finance terms available
Easily set vet check groups eg dirty cows or CIDRs Identify cows not gaining weight ahead of/during AB Pick lame, sick or non-cycling cows ahead of/during AB Offer available from 1 October 2017 – 31 December 2017. Pricing excludes GST, installation and MiHub subscription costs. Finance Terms available until 31 December 2017.
How are you tracking? Let’s talk. 0800 TRU-TEST (878 8378)