A story on one of the rural programs recently caught the writer’s attention.
This involved the export of organic lamb from the far western reaches of NSW to the USA in what was claimed to be a first for the Australian prime lamb industry.
T and R Livestock manager Paul Leonard says that their company will commence to forward contract suitable lambs so that the first shipments will leave our shores in February 2012.
The destination of these lambs is into a setting similar to our David Jones Food Halls where their customer base is quite happy to pay a premium for quality foods. The company indicates that their initial requirements will be in the area of 60,000 head from where they intend to grow this market.
What a great boost for the lamb industry in that part of the world. At the time of writing I’m not able to ascertain the requirement weight range or for that matter what breeds of lambs will be accepted or possibly rejected if any.
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Bruce Bryant Peter Milling and Co, Wellington sent a fax outlining the result of the “Glenwood” SRS Merino Stud Ram Sale held on October 28 account Norman and Pip Smith.
Top price for the day was $4100 with an average price of $1201 for the 59 rams sold.
This average price compares favourably with last year at $920.
The stud also sold 48 mixed-aged stud ewes for $300 and demand was so strong for the rams that the family sold 22 grade rams after the auction sale had been completed.
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Both recent prime cattle and sheep markets across the state have shown a distinct softening pattern.
Traditionally we have reached the time of the year when markets beat a retreat.
With the onset of the higher temperatures and many pens of stock lacking bloom and presentation it is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve the top dollars of recent weeks.
A slackening of numbers as harvest gets into full swing may help with the prices. For the past three weeks in regards to lambs we have seen in excess of 160,000 head yarded at NLRS Saleyards which is a rise of 14 per cent when compared to the same period last year.
On the subject of lambs it has been reported widely within the industry that one of the major exporters has closed its large scale feedlot in the south of the state and is currently in the process of placing the operation on the market for sale.
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Those weather watchers keep telling me that solid rainfall patterns are due to reach the eastern parts of Australia in the next week or so.
To justify this confidence we see that in Western Australia they have received substantial falls in recent days with most areas receiving falls of two inches or slightly better.
Perth has just recorded its wettest October in 12 years.
To this point in time there are very few reports from that state of much crop damage. Meanwhile grain producers in the eastern states will be watching the weather closely.
They certainly do not need a rain event similar to last year which caused devastating financial losses to their bottom line because of grain downgrades.
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