Huge numbers yarded at Koonwarra sheep sale

A large sheep and lamb sale drew buyers to the Leongatha Saleyards at Koonwarra on Tuesday, May 26.

Beginning at 12pm at the Eastern Victoria Livestock Exchange, the sale proceeded with cloudy skies overhead, though the rain thankfully held off for most of the event.

“The sale today is a mixed sale of lambs and mutton, and it’s held here every fortnight,” said Leongatha Livestock Manager at Alex Scott & Staff, Dane Perczyk.

The sale is seasonal, running fortnightly for the first six months of the year, and then in the second half of the year, there’ll be no sheep and lamb sale.

There were a whopping 1655 sheep and lambs yarded on the day, with numbers boosted by a larger property-exit dispersal offered on the day.

“There is a dispersal of a flock of sheep that have come off the one place today, which is boosting the numbers up,” said Mr Perczyk.

A listing posted before the sale by SEJ Livestock & Real Estate said the dispersal included 450 Border Leicester Merino scanned-in-lamb ewes, offered on account of M & N Bracecamp, Mardan, after the family’s property was sold.

The ewes were listed as three to six years old, shorn in mid-January and scanned in lamb at 180 per cent, with lambing due to begin from July 1.

Mr Perczyk said there wasn’t a huge number of lambs yarded on the day, with the sale mostly made up of sheep and mutton, although some lambs that were present reached just under $300, with many making between $280 to $290.

As the selling season nears its end, many of the stronger drafts and better lambs have already gone through the system.

“We’re getting towards the end of the season now,” said Mr Perczyk.

“A lot of your tops, your drafts and all your better lambs have gone and gone through the system already. Now we’re getting down to the tail ends of everything.”

Mr Perczyk says the sale is extremely important for local producers who may only have a handful of sheep to sell.

“A lot of places around here, they don’t run big numbers,” he said.

“So, this sale is very handy for those smaller vendors. They don’t have to send them up to Ballarat or very far away to be able to sell a handful.”

Bayles farmer Yvonne Scoles was amongst those who purchased on the day, taking home a Black Face Suffolk ram.

“I was very happy with the prices,” she said.

She said her farm was starting to come along nicely after experiencing some dry weather.

“It’s a bit light on because we were so dry for so long, but it’s starting to grow again now, so you can buy again,” Ms Scoles said.

She said having a local sheep sale like this one was important because many other yards are simply too far away.

“Quite often the cost of transport doesn’t warrant the travel,” she said.