THE sheep market may have eased on its record levels of the previous two years, but it didn't stop sheep producers from buying up big at ram sales this year to create another record-breaking year for stud breeders.
Right through the season many stud breeders achieved new benchmarks, whether it be a top price value or a record average as buyers went to never-before-seen levels at WA ram sales.
With good water and feed supplies again available, plenty of dollars in the pocket from record sheep and lamb sales over the past couple of years and solid wool returns, producers still were full of confidence when it came to their sheep enterprises as they walked into ram sales in 2022.
This confidence and enthusiasm, combined with faith in the future of the sheep and wool industries, meant buyers were again strong in their bidding at sales in terms of what they were prepared to pay, the numbers they wanted and what breed they wanted, resulting in both prices and the number of rams sold being up on last year.
The season average across all breeds finished at $1853, ranking it as the best on record, while the $110,000 top price for the season paid for a SheepMaster ram, was the highest price paid for a WA bred ram of any breed at auction in WA since 1991.
The previous best price was $110,500 for a Lewisdale ram sold at the Katanning stud ram sale.
When it came to the record-breaking season average, it was up $92 on last year's average which was the previous best to date for breeders.
The results achieved at ram sales this year were somewhat surprising given a number of factors being against breeders.
These include the number of ewes that have been offloaded in the past couple of years, the downturn in the sheepmeat prices and the ability for producers to get killing space in the past six months, along with a somewhat volatile wool market which while still at similar to levels to last year, has had plenty of ups and downs over the past 12 months.
As a consequence of these factors, one would have assumed the demand for rams wouldn't have been as strong as last year when the sheep market was humming along.
Despite the commodity prices for wool and sheepmeat not being as strong as many would like, producers still showed at ram sales this season they were focused on maintaining their flocks on the back of another good season which started with an early break for many parts of the State, and was followed up with good winter rains and somewhat of a soft finish.
In the past couple of years the main driving factor in the confidence of buyers at ram sales has been the record sheep and lamb prices, however this year producers haven't seen those record levels, but it didn't affect their buying at ram sales.
Highlighting just how strong the lamb market has been in past couple of years, last financial year (2021/22) WAMMCO paid an average price of $197.36 a head for lamb and $179.42 a head for mutton, which represented an increase of 16.4pc and 18.8pc on the previous year respectively for lamb and mutton.
The record prices producers saw were a result of significant international lamb markets being prepared to pay some of the highest prices ever seen.
After two years of market turmoil, Australian lamb markets were hungry for our lamb and as a result the prices being paid last spring were some of the best prices seen out of the market at that time of year.
Last year producers regularly saw prices surpass $200 for lamb and mutton and while prices were strong at the end of 2021 and early this year, they began to really fall away in the autumn when processors began to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Their processing capacities were severely reduced due to staff shortage and as result they are still trying to catch up the backlog of sheep to be processed.
An indication of just how much lamb prices have fallen since the beginning of the year can be seen when you examine Meat & Livestock Australia's (MLA) lamb indicators.
These indicators were at their peaks at the start of the year.
The trade lamb indicator (18-22kg carcase weight (CWT) peaked on January 21 at 851 cents a kilogram CWT, while a week later (January 28) the heavy (more than 22kg CWT), light (12-18kg CWT) and Merino lamb (16-22kg CWT) indicators peaked at 894c/kg CWT, 809c/kg CWT and 838c/kg CWT respectively.
When the ram selling season commenced at the end of August (August 30), the MLA indicators had heavy lamb realising 563c/kg CWT, trade lamb 530c/kg CWT, light lamb 427c/kg CWT and Merino lamb 488c/kg CWT, meaning these indicators were back between 321 and 382c/kg.
And when the ram selling season finished last Friday, these indicators were all down between 290 and 361c/kg CWT on the January peaks.
Last week the indicators sat at 534c/kg CWT for heavy lamb, 509c/kg CWT trade lamb, 453c/kg CWT light lamb and 512c/kg CWT Merino lamb.
At these current levels producers are seeing heavy new season lambs make closer to $130-$150 this year compared to the $200 mark last year.
Like lamb prices, producers have also seen the price for mutton fall away since January and there have been no record returns of $291 being achieved for heavy ewes this season in WA saleyards.
The MLA mutton indicator (18-24kg CWT) peaked this year also on January 28 when it was recorded at 595c/kg CWT and since then it has trended downwards.
At the beginning of the selling season (August 30), it was 390c/kg CWT and when the season finished last week it was even lower at 305c/kg CWT.
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Its lowest point was a week earlier on October 28 when it sat at 240c/kg, meaning it was down 355c/kg on its peak in January.
As with trade sheep prices, prices at this year's spring Merino ewe sales were also back.
Following on from the strong values of the past four years, Merino ewe prices this year couldn't sustain their upward trajectory.
Last year spring sales averaged between $197 and $234 this year the averages sat between $150 and $200.
The top price for ewes in sales this year was $270 at the Elders Corrigin and Wickepin ewe sale in October.
While Merino ewes haven't seen the same demand as last year, the same can't be said for shedding ewes as producers look for an easy-care lamb producing option that doesn't need shearing.
The extreme demand for shedding ewes was on show for all to see in the Nutrien Livestock Maternal ewe sale on AuctionsPlus this month when UltraWhite ewe lambs sold to $590 and the 4919 shedding ewes and ewe lambs sold averaged $412.
While sheep prices have been back over the past 12 months, the wool market has provided producers with a glimmer of hope again over the past 12 months.
After falling to its lowest levels since 2012 when ram sales kicked off in 2020, growers have seen the market lift over the past two years, albeit in an up and down way to give growers hope.
Currently the Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) for the 2022/23 season is sitting at 1318c/kg clean and the Western Market Indicator (WMI) for the season is at 1436c/kg clean.
In comparison the EMI averaged 1385c/kg for the 2021/22 season and 1206c/kg for the 2020/21 season, while the WMI averaged 1429c/kg and 1252c/kg for the past two seasons.
The peak of the wool market for producers in the past 12 months was in mid-June when the WMI sat at 1563c/kg clean, which was up 86c/kg on the 2021 level.
When this peaked, the value for a 185kg bale of 20 micron, 68pc yield wool with good length (80-90mm) and strength (32N/kt) was worth $1950.
When ram sales kicked off in earnest in the first week of September (week beginning Monday, August 30) the market was back on the June peak.
The EMI was at 1330c/kg clean and the WMI was at 1441c/kg.
In comparison, in the same week last year the EMI was 1332c/kg clean and the WMI 1356c/kg, while in 2020 the EMI was at 856c/kg and the WMI was 895c/kg.
During the season the WMI ranged between 1363c/kg to 1469c/kg while last year the range was between 1356c/kg and 1402c/kg.
When wool sales were completed last week the WMI was at 1394c/kg clean, which was back 8c/kg on last year.
At last week's level a 185kg bale of 20 micron, 68pc yield wool with good length (80-90mm) and strength (32N/kt) was worth $1736, compared to $1711 last year.
So while the wool market hasn't made significant gains in the past 12 months, it hasn't dropped away either to the lows of 2020 which gave producers some confidence when it came to Merino sales this year.
While it appeared the current sheepmeat and wool prices had little bearing on buyers when it came to their purchases at ram sales this year, the same might not be said about the increasing input costs for cropping programs, given the increase in the number of rams sold again this year.
With fertiliser and chemical costs up significantly on two years ago, it may have made producers again look at their cropping programs for the coming year and make the decision to keep the unproductive land as pasture and run another mob of sheep.
Also influencing buying decisions at ram sales this year in terms of the type of rams being purchased was no doubt the issues surrounding the shearing industry.
For many it has been a struggle to get shearers for the past two years and as a result of the shearer shortage, shearing costs have also risen.
With this looking like being a continuing problem and there being no other viable options on the table currently for wool harvesting, producers were certainly looking more seriously at the shedding breeds this season as an alternative.
So with a number of factors playing on producers' minds from sheep and lamb prices, a volatile wool market, paddocks full of feed and water, high fertiliser and chemical prices, the continued mulesing debate, difficulty getting shearers, producers were not short on things to think about when it came to their buying decisions.
And when you look at the final ram sale figures there is no doubt these factors had an impact on producers' purchasing decisions from what they were willing to pay, how many and what type of rams they wanted.
This year's ram selling season saw 15,915 Merino, British, Australasian, South African and shedding breed rams offered at sales and 14,803 sold for a clearance rate of 93pc, a gross of $27,435,225, a $1853 average and to a top of $110,000.
In comparison last year 15,626 rams were offered and 14,514 sold under the hammer for a gross of $25,559,275, at an average of $1761 and an 93pc clearance.
This meant across the board 289 more rams offered and sold, while the gross was up $1,875,950 and clearance was unchanged.
The overall season average of $1853 was up $92.
Compared to 2000 when Farm Weekly started recording sale results for all breeds the average was nearly triple (up $1156), on that year's average of $697, while compared to 10 years ago (2013) it was up $841 on that average of $1012.
In terms of gross revenue, this year ranks as the largest and the second time the figure has surpassed the $25 million mark.
The previous best season in terms of average price and gross was last year and prior to that it was 2018 when the gross finished at $23,767,895 and the average was $1556.
This year also saw the most number of rams sold since 2018, in that year vendors sold 15,277 rams.
When it comes to the number of rams sold, the peak was in 2004, when 19,960 rams were offered and 17,272 were sold.
The $110,000 season top price was paid for a SheepMaster ram from the Garnett SheepMaster stud, at the National SheepMaster ram sale at Elleker last week.
Also in this sale a ram sold for the season's second top price of $105,000 as well as $45,000 which was the fourth highest price paid at sale this year, showing the growing interest in shedding breeds due to their easy-care and high fertility traits.
The third top price for the season was $52,000 and it was recorded at the Anderson Poll Merino ram sale at Kojonup in the last Merino ram sale for the season.
As well as topping the top price list this year, shedding breeds also came out on top in the average stakes achieving an average of $3406, with SheepMasters the best performing with an average of $5927 for 217 rams sold from 221 offered.
Also in these breeds UltraWhites averaged $3396, while White Dorpers and Kojaks were the next best with averages of $2834 and $2831 respectively.
The Merino and British and Australasian breed sales like the shedding breeds set new benchmarks in terms of their average results.
Merino sales finished with an average of $1926 and the British and Australasian breeds sales averaged $1377 and it was the Prolifics and Mount Ronan Maternal composites with averages of $2859 and $2279, which were the top performers.
When it came to an improvement in averages this year, the biggest lift was recorded by SheepMaster which saw a rise of $274, which was followed by Dohne and Australian White breeds which achieved lifts of $271 and $264 respectively.
The increase in the number of rams offered and sold this year was in the main due to increased numbers in the shedding breeds where an additional 446 rams were offered and 400 more were sold.
In these breeds the UltraWhite saw the biggest rises compared to last season with breeders offering an extra 163 rams and selling 149 more while there were an extra 122 rams offered and 119 sold by the SheepMaster breed.
The British and Australasian breeds also saw the number of rams offered and sold increase with 120 more rams offered and 94 more sold compared to 2021.
The largest contributor to this increase in numbers was the White Suffolk breed with an additional 189 rams offered and 217 more sold compared to last year.
In terms of market share, the Merinos held 56pc of the market this year for rams sold, which was back 3pc on last year.
The British and Australasian breeds market share for rams sold was up 1pc on 2021 at 30pc.
When the British and Australasian breeds market share is broken down for rams sold, White Suffolks and Poll Dorsets sit at 17pc and 8pc, making them the next biggest breeds sold behind Merinos.
The Dohne and Prime SAMM breeds recorded a market share of 5pc and 2pc respectively on the number of rams sold, the same as last year.
The market share for the shedding breeds on rams sold finished at 7pc which was up 2pc on last year.
The UltraWhite breed had the biggest share of these breeds sitting at 3pc overall of rams sold.
When you look at the market share for the breeds on the gross figures Merinos recorded a figure of 58pc which down 5pc on 2021, British and Australasian breeds commanded 22pc, the same as 2021 (White Suffolks 13pc and Poll Dorsets 5pc), Dohnes 4pc, Prime SAMMs 1pc with the shedding breeds at 14pc (UltraWhite and SheepMaster both 5pc).
The Merino, White Suffolk, Poll Dorset, UltraWhite and SheepMaster breeds all surpassed the $1m gross figure.
Merinos again clearly topped the gross figures for the season with their sales grossing more than $16m while the next two biggest tallies were achieved by the White Suffolk at more than $3.5m and Poll Dorset at more than $1.4m.
