Offerings double at Narromine store sheep sale
17 August 2012
The number of sheep offered at this month’s Narromine store sale almost doubled from the previous sale, in what was a fair to good quality yarding. There was a good selection of first cross ewes offered, along with a reasonable number of Merino ewes, while there was no store quality lambs or wethers yarded. Overall attendance was good, including buyers from Forbes, Wagga Wagga, Gilgandra, Tamworth, Boggabri, Woodstock, Bourke, Bathurst, Trangie and Blayney, along with solid support from locals.
First cross ewes sold to strong competition, maintaining the favourable returns from previous sales. The best offering was an outstanding line of September/October 2011 drops, July shorn, which sold for $164/head. Another top pen of one year olds sold for $162/head. The balance of the good quality young cross bred ewes sold from $128 to $152/head. Plainer quality cross bred ewes sold from $70 to $116/head. A line of one year old first-cross ewes, 100% scanned in lamb to Poll Dorset rams achieved $128/head. Interestingly, only one pen of the four presented within the “exotic” section of the offering managed to sell - a line of young White Dorper ewes, August/September 2011 drop and scanned in lamb, reaching $94/head.
Only a few pens of the top quality Merino ewes yarded reached prices similar to the previous sale, with most considerably cheaper. The best of the young ewes was a line of one year olds, June shorn, selling for $130/head. The balance of young Merino ewes sold from $29 to $88/head. The top price for Merino ewes on the day was paid for a line of June/July 2008 drops, July shorn and 100% scanned in lamb to White Suffolk rams – reaching $134/head. The balance of the older Merino ewes scanned in lamb sold from $50 to $108/head.
Unjoined older ewes sold from $40 to $99/head, with most ranging in price from $50 to $60/head. One line of cast for age Merino ewes with over 100% of marked Poll Dorset lambs at foot sold for $98/head. A top quality line of young Dohne ewes, March shorn and joined to Dohne rams sold for $125/head. A large line of young SAMM ewes, April shorn and scanned empty sold for $86/head, with the second cut from the same consignment achieving $81/head.