Confidence boost: Oatlands sheep sale goes for quality

THE Oatlands Sheep and Lamb Sale continues to receive strong support from across the state. 

Held last week, the sale saw 10,000 sheep and lambs yarded, with an impressive offering of high-quality ewe lambs. 

The sale, a feature event for future breeders, attracted local Tasmanian buyers looking to invest in top quality genetics. 

Nutrien Livestock Manager George Nichols said he was relatively satisfied with the day’s results. 

“This sale is our feature future breeder sale so there’s a lot of good quality ewe lambs here,” he said. 

“For those wanting to buy quality genetics to put back into their paddocks, this is where they come. 

“Ewe lambs sold to restockers up to $220 which is a great result for the vendors and a credit to them for displaying and presenting the sheep that they have.” 

One-year-old ewes saw prices at an excess of $250, an indicator of growing confidence. 

“It means producers are willing to pay the money to invest back in their business so we’re pretty happy with that,” Mr Nichols said. 

The sale saw competitive bidding across a range of categories. Top-end processing lambs sold for $162, while the best store lambs went for up to $143. 

The first-cross lambs went for around $130, and lighter lambs sold for between $58 and $70. Processing mutton reached $100 to $110. 

“All in all, it was a pretty good result,” Mr Nichols said. 

“The market has come back a little bit since our last sale, but it was good to see the confidence in the ewe lambs here today, that really was confidence boosting. 

“The vendors that put ewe lambs into this sale do it well and present them well. 

“People come to this sale to buy those sheep, invest in their genetics and put back in their paddock and it’s a good showcase of Tassie genetics.”

York Plains sheep farmer Peter Hazell, who sold some sheep on the day, was generally pleased with the prices for his Merino ewes, but admitted he had hoped for slightly higher returns. 

“Last year we had about 420ml of rain and our average is usually about 575ml so considering the amount of rain we did get it was a reasonable price and season,” Mr Hazell said. 

Despite some market caution in recent years, Mr Hazell said an early autumn break could change that. 

“People have been a little more conservative in the past few years, but an early autumn break would make a difference.” 

With recent mainland competition, Mr Nichols said it was great to see local processors stepping in and buying lambs at the sale. 

“On-island processing is really important for the Tassie producers but to have an auction we need more than one person at the rail,” he said. 

“Considering we’re getting into the dry part of the year I think we should be happy with what we’ve achieved. 

“Normally we would get mainland interest for these sales, but we didn’t today at all and the reason for that is Tasmania’s market is actually much better than the mainland market so we’re seeing it’s too expensive to get those sheep back by the time you transport them across the Bass Strait.” 

Mr. Nichols said irrigation systems had given Tasmanian producers a strong edge. 

“The irrigation systems that producers have in Tassie allow them to be really predictable,” he said. 

“As much as we like competition, it’s great that we’re ahead of the game down here at the moment. 

“The vendors should be recognised for the quality of livestock that they put forward, especially the ewe lambs.”