Australian Livestock Auction Sales Drop

SYDNEY - Mar 14/08 - SNS -- Livestock sold through online auctions managed by AuctionsPlus Pty Ltd sank during the past week.

Throughput for the week totalled 58,099 sheep and lambs, versus 81,407 head during the previous week's auctions, and 5,812 head of cattle, compared to 4,125 last week.

"A tough week was the best way to describe this weeks events and quite obviously nothing will change greatly until we see a major change in the weather pattern," AuctionsPlus' Dean Lemmich said.

"Many vendors would be disappointed with results but it’s the old story 'who knows the bottom of falling markets'. Reserves remained high in many instances which made the going hard. All we can do is soldier on in anticipation of an Easter break.

"Mutton sheep rebounded well this week and were the highlight of sheep trading. Some selected lots of joined ewes made good rates, but a large number of scanned in lamb breeders remained unsold."

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