PRICES for first-cross ewes came off the boil at Ballarat.
It was in response to a cheaper prime market at the same market this week.
Bidding reached $262 (compared with $316 last year) for 225 August-September 2010-drop and October shorn ewes from Roger Brothers.
The tops of drafts from H Wade & Sons, JR&L Allen, Fraser Brothers, LM Smith & Sons, P&G Liston and G&J Kirkpatrick sold from $225 to $250, but prices quickly dipped below the $200-mark for the second runs.
Most second runs sold from $170 to $200 in the yarding of 30,000 ewes and ewe lambs.
This compared with prices of $280-plus for the top runs and $240-plus for the second runs at last year's sale.
Repeat buyer Graeme Dehnert outlaid $254 and $180 for the Fraser Bros' first and second pens from their line of 700 1.5 year-old October shorn ewes.
"I'm happy with what I paid for the seconds; I thought they could be $210," Mr Dehnert said.
"I bought the same ewes last year and the prices are a bit more realistic this year."
Buyer David Mirtshin from Warrnambool was another that found the prices more palatable, paying $194 for 200 1.5 year-old October shorn ewes from Taylor Farms.
"The market has come back to reflect the prime lamb market," Mr Mirtshin said.
"These are well bred sheep that have been mulsed, vaccinated and vendor bred; you've got to be able to get out of them in 12 months and I can do that with these. Last year, people bought according to the lamb prices at the time, expecting it to happen again this year and it didn't."
Most sheep returned to paddocks surrounding Ballarat, Ararat and Bendigo, with additional buying support coming from Warrnambool and Colac.
Major buyer Ashleigh Vincent of Geelong Livestock Consulting bought 1500 1.5 year-old ewes for clients from Mortlake and Derrinallum including 160 from the Grant family for $190.
"I thought a lot of ewes were $30 back on the pre-Christmas sale and they are very joinable," Mr Vincent said.
But vendors Colin and Jacquie Smith of Caramballac were reasonably satisfied with their price of $232 for their lead pen of 1.5 year-old ewes (compared with $308 last year).
"We would have liked a bit more - everybody would have - but last year was probably unreasonable for buyers and we've had a tough spring with not a lot of rain," Mr Smith said.
The first-cross ewe lamb offering was dominated by some impressive drafts from the Bendigo region, including 450 from Julian Laffan of Everdry at Moama, NSW, which topped the market at $216.
"It's a bit more than I expected after Kyneton's market; the tops there made $196 and so I thought if we could have got to $190, that would be about right," Mr Laffan said.
"We bought them down (from Moama) for the buyers; we'll go to Deniliquin tomorrow and see if we made the right decision."
The smaller offering of older first-cross ewes made up to $193 for 183 2 year-olds, November shorn, from Coopers Creek.
At Ballarat's prime market slid $10 for light and mid-weight lambs and up to $20 for good lambs with wool earlier this week.
