JOINED Merinos hit $200 at Jerilderie in southern NSW last week.

It was a price that had the agents scrambling through their record books.

The 240 two-year-old August-shorn ewes, of Charinga blood and due to lamb to a White Suffolk ram from the end of this month, were sold on account of Amoilla, from Hillston.

They were bought for an Elders client from Boort.

While prices for Merino ewes with lambs have, on several occasions, broken the $200 mark, last week's Jerilderie price was probably a national record for single ewes.

But the top prices didn't stop there.

Geoff Whillans, from Narranderra, was over the moon when he sold 502 four-year-old March shorn ewes for $168, which according to processors had a mutton value of $130-$135.

These were ewes he bought as lambs for $55, which have subsequently given him three lambings.

The buyer of these ewes was Arthur Gibbs, from Urana.

Mr Gibbs, who also bought another 395, younger, Merino ewes for $169 and $140, said he could only see prices getting dearer at future sales.

Most of the 2009-drop ewes sold for upwards of $140.

Because of the small yarding of 5500 head for this Elders feature sale, which was down on the advertised rate, the selection and quality of the offerings was limited.

Among the offerings were 130 2009-drop Coolalee Merino-cross ewes, which were joined to a White Suffolk and due to lamb in October.

The Coolalee line is a composite, geared to prime lamb production.

These bare-shorn, well-conditioned ewes sold for $189.

The yarding also included 600 Dohne-Merino cross April-May 2009-drop ewes in full wool. These ewes had obviously done it tough and as one agent noted, "they need to do a bit of growing".

They sold in two pens for $126 and $100, to an Elders Ballarat client. Woolly Merino wether lambs sold to $85.

Last week's sale produced an overall average of $137.

Elders Jerilderie manager Kym Hannaford said the prices were not unexpected, considering the state of the sheep market and the shortage of sheep.

He said the results augered well for the feature sale at Jerilderie in October, where Elders was hoping to muster an offering of 30,000 ewes, wethers and woolly lambs.