Selling store an opportunity

Chris Garland was among speakers at a recent Beef and Lamb New Zealand field day in Southern Hawkes Bay. He told Rural News the store lamb market is strongest it's been for about 30 years.

He believes producers should grab the money with both hands and effectively de-stock their properties faster than they normally would. Good 28kg lambs are fetching $3.70 - $3.80 and 25kg lambs up to $4/kg – very good money, he says.

"They would still have good money in the bank and redirect that feed to growing out young replacement stock and getting capital stock up to speed. There is some good thinking out there now on differential feeding of stock based on condition score." By putting feed into capital stock they can set themselves up better for next season.

The store market has turned in favour of breeders, away from finishers, Garland says. This began last year, but a dry November put a lot of breeders under pressure to sell and some missed out on what might have been higher prices. But the market picked up in February and that trend has continued into this season.

"In the last three or four years things have been pretty tight. The breeders have been forced to finish lambs to get the bottom line right and have done that to one degree of success or another. But sometimes it's been a cost to their overall performance because finishing those lambs has taken feed away from other classes of stock such as replacement ewe lambs."

Garland is surprised to hear some stock agents say there are farmers not doing as well as they could in having store lambs well presented and ready for sales. This might change a bit now lambs are worth more, he says. Stock agents say farmers who present their stock well tend to get better money and the agents work better for them.

"The farmers the agents like to work for are those who plan their weaning and selling three-four weeks in advance. They know what weight ranges they've got and they have the mobs lined up in different age groups so they can programme their sales and tell their agent pretty much what they've got weight- and number-wise. This will be done by the time the agent arrives."

These farmers have the animals looking bright and healthy, some having had health treatments three weeks prior to sale to ensure they are at their best. Agents will then be positive about marketing that line of lambs.

As Christmas nears, farmers are busy like everyone else making sure things are right for that special day. But, without wanting to put a damper on Christmas, Garland notes the 10-day holiday falls in the middle of the main marketing period for a lot of stock. So the market often loses some momentum.

"There's a lot of pressure on selling stock that would normally be kept. They end up marketing product they might not otherwise have marketed and it causes a supply stretch. As far as marketing goes you could just about do without Christmas."

But this year may not be problematic, he says. There is so much feed around the country nobody's under pressure.