Buyers at the Te Whanga Station lamb sale. PHOTO/JADE CVETKOV
BECKIE WILSON
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Rain has given lower North Island farmers confidence to purchase Wairarapa lambs, as the Te Whanga Station on-farm sale showed on Wednesday.
Te Whanga put 6000 lambs, white face Romney and mixed-sex black face lambs, under the hammer.
The strong sale exceeded the expectations of both PGG Wrightson senior livestock agent Elvis Jennings and Te Whanga manager Jason Coffey.
The top price for the day was $130 a head for a line of 867 lambs bought by a repeat purchaser, Alan McLeod of Manawatu.
The second cut was $122 for a line of Romney cryptorchid lambs that went to the South Island.
Jennings said the station presented lambs in impeccable order, and repeat purchasers clearly recognised their quality.
The sale held a strong presence of Manawatu buyers, with purchases also from King Country, Taupo, Wairarapa, and down to the South Island.
“Prices reflected how well the Te Whanga lambs do,” Jennings said.
“These lambs are well sought after, they have a good reputation for their growing and shifting ability.”
The preparation for the 6000-lamb strong sale took about three days while the auction was over in about 20 minutes.
Jennings said last year there was about five purchases at the sale due to looming drought conditions.
“But the lower North Island has received quality rain over the past three to four days and that demand for big lines of station stock was reflected today,” Jennings said.
Jennings said the strong sale instilled confidence that the future of the lamb industry was looking good.
Coffey, who has been station manager since April, said he was pleased with the result of his first on-farm lamb sale.
The good prices showed that repeat purchasers were happy, he said.
