Saturday, March 30, 2024

Autumn on-farm sale pays dividends

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A competitive crowd turned out for the autumn on-farm sale held by Lochiel Station owners Hamish and Mary McRae at their finishing block Avonvale.
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A change of plans for selling lambs and cattle paid dividends for Hanmer Springs farmers Hamish and Mary McRae from Lochiel Station. 

Over the years, different farming systems have been trialled to get stock to their end point – whether that be finishing on-farm or selling store, but this year an autumn on-farm sale was the focus and it proved to be successful enough that Hamish McRae will look to hold more in the future.

“This was a first for us to hold an on-farm sale at this time of year but it made sense,” Hamish said. 

“We would usually finish 9-10,000 lambs and got to the point where we had finished 6000. With the remaining 3000 we opted to hold an on-farm sale now, as it was a good way to get everything tidied up at once and before winter.”

The last lambs were sent to the processors three weeks prior to the sale and the balance were targeted for the on-farm event, which was held at the McRae’s finishing block Avonvale, 20 kilometres from the breeding block at Lochiel Station. 

The sale was organised and marketed by Dave Hardy from DBH Livestock with the help of Hazlett agent Alby Orchard. 

“They (Dave and Alby) did a top job marketing the sale and it showed in the interest we had. A lot of buyers know the lambs, having bought them in the past from our summer on-farm sales, and so they turned up to bid. They also appreciate being able to buy big lines – our biggest had 700-800 lambs in it,” he said.

He also said that the results were exceptional and overall around $20 more than expected. 

The lambs were recently-shorn Romdale and Suftex and were presented in nine sex-drafted lines. 

Hazlett Livestock agent Alby Orchard was on hand to sell the lambs and said the auction set a new level.

“There was keen bidding from Marlborough and Canterbury buyers, and some missed out due to the strong buying bench who were determined not to back down,” Orchard said.

“Tallies such as those offered at the sale are becoming very scarce within the Canterbury area, yet there is still plenty of demand from buyers with plenty of feed still in front of them due to an amazing autumn in Canterbury.”.

The male lambs sold for $155-$193 with ewe lambs very close behind at $154-$190, setting a sale average of $164. 

That was above the average price for those that had been finished, though the lambs sold on-farm ranged from prime to forward-store types. 

The R2 Charolais and Angus-Hereford cattle were offered under similar circumstances to the lambs. 

The McRae family has not shied away from trying different policies to work out what fits best.

“In the past we have sold them as yearlings or tried to finish them,” Hamish said.

“Last winter we took them through but found it was not an easy process. This year, we decided to give it a go selling the R2 cattle now and, like the lambs, are very happy with the results so we will do it again.”

Orchard was very impressed with the cattle penned and so too were the buyers.

“This was a fantastic line-up and one of the best straight beef-bred station cattle we have seen around Canterbury this autumn. These types of cattle and line sizes have been very hard to come by in this area,” he said.

Bidding also came from the wider Canterbury region. 

The cattle were in forward-store to prime condition and ranged from 400kg up to 550kg liveweight. 

The 240 steers sold in five lines for $1440-$1740 and 180 heifers were also presented in five lines and returned $1130-$1550, giving a sale average of $1474.

This article was written by AgriHQ analyst Suz Bremner. Suz leads the AgriHQ LivestockEye team, including data collectors who are tasked with being on the ground at sale yards throughout the country. Subscribe to AgriHQ reports here.

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