WITH unshorn Merino wether lamb prices hitting $95 at Deniliquin today, the fat market looked cheap.
Processors competed head-to-head with Victorian restockers in a market reeling from a lack of numbers.
Selling agents Landmark, Elders, Ian Geddes & Co and Rodwells Deniliquin yarded 12,000 crossbred and Merino wether lambs for the annual store sale.
Steve Arentz, of Rodwells, said the sale was 1000 lambs down on the advertised yarding due to the strength of the fat market.
"Some vendors decided to either sell into the fat market or keep their lambs on,'' he said.
"And, you really can't blame them."
Mr Arentz said the wether sale had bettered the recent Deniliquin ewe store sale.
"It's been a long time and we haven't seen prices like that for 20 years,'' he said.
"We had really good unshorn wether Merino lambs selling for $72 and crossbred lambs around $92 today.
"People are starting to realise the returns they can get out of sheep."
Landmark Deniliquin livestock agent Bill O'Brien had expected a solid sale although pre-sale inquiry had been quiet.
"The phone never stopped ringing for the ewe sale but this time it was quiet although we did have inquiries on the crossbred lambs,'' he said.
"We've had the summer rain but still have a long way to go and some blokes have started feeding sheep.
"Sheep numbers in the district are back a lot."
Buyers attended from Swan Hill, Bendigo, Charlton, Yarrawonga, Horsham, Numurkah, Rochester, Nagambie, Shepparton, Echuca, Kerang and Ballarat.
The sale opened on the crossbred lamb offering with a Swan Hill processor paying the top price of $93 for 60 White Suffolk cross lambs, June-July drop, and November shorn.
The Lauriadale blood mixed sex lambs were offered by the Farrant family, Calimo Station, Deniliquin.
The balance of the crossbred draft sold down to $71.50 while the spring drop, December shorn crossbreds sold for $50-$82.
In the unshorn crossbred pens, July-August drop lambs sold for $66.50-$83 and spring droppers for $55.50-$72.
Crossbred ewe lambs, spring drop and unshorn were $59.50-$67.50.
Border Leicester-Merino cross mixed sex lambs, July-August drop and November shorn, sold for $65.50-$74.Demand stepped up for crossbred woolly lambs with ewes averaging $84 and wethers $79-$91.
The big movers on the day were the Merino wethers, with the May-July drop unshorn pens topping at $95 to processors and selling down to $70.
Younger spring droppers sold for $60-$72 while Merino ewe lambs, unshorn, averaged $71.
The middle run of shorn Merino wether lambs sold for $59-$70.50, and down to $45 for the plainer types.
