PRICES for young first-cross ewes reached $211 today in a sale rated as the strongest crossbred market seen at Bendigo this month.

The top money was for 200 August/September 2011-drop ewes from J&L Cartwright. The ewes ticked all the boxes for southern buyers, being big framed, muelsed and vaccinated against OJD.

A second pen of the Cartwright ewes, which are an annual draft and have attracted a keen following from repeat buyers over the years, then sold for $200.

While they were the only sheep in the 20,000 head yarding to break the $200 mark, the majority of the 1.5 year-old ewes still sold strongly at between $150 to $175 a head  - an outcome deemed stronger than the previous week.

A talked about trend was the fact most of the higher priced sheep had been OJD vaccinated and muelsed, with some agents declaring a premium of up to $20 a head.

Bidding for first-cross ewe lambs reached $170 for Peter Darker’s pen of 205 lambs that had been reared on irrigation at Boort and were a stand-out for size and style.

Most of the top ewe lambs sold from $130 to $155 a head in a result that exceeded most vendor’s expectations.

Ian and Joan Fergurson, Womboo at Woomboota, received up to $161 for their ewe lambs.

“Its been very strong – it is amazing the confidence that’s out there really,’’ Mr Ferguson said.

The market, however, did quickly correct for plainer ewe lambs which sold from $80 to $120.

Strong orders from Ballarat and South Gippsland, as well as the local north-east area, helped underpin the sale.