Tide finally goes out on prices at Feilding | Rural

The tide finally turned for prices during Friday's Feilding Stock Store Sale as prices tumbled downwards in all sections.

The pressures of a rising currency, easing schedules and the usual meat company executives talking prices down for the future has at last overwhelmed the optimism that has prevailed in the market, aligned with the plentiful feed conditions, and lamb and cattle prices have yielded ground.

The ewe section continues on its own path with some lines of very average 2-tooths and mixed age ewes again meeting a ready market with a supplementary ewe fair next Friday to come.

Lamb prices eased from the off but some pens offered a very mixed selection of sizes and were not easy to value.

Some of the major breeding areas are still struggling to get lambs dry enough to complete their shearing and these lambs will improve on their new pastures down country.

A pen of 85 well bred woolly cryptorchids from Sue Harrison's Taihape property topped Friday's sale selling for $123 or around $5 below what they may have sold for last week but this became typical of all prices, which dropped around 15 cents per kilogram overall.

Brent Williamson from Waituna West was the only other vendor to exceed $120 when he sold 231 shorn cryptorchids for $122.

There are few straight lines of ewe lambs being offered and the total yardings are not at high levels, which would suggest that breeders are still holding stock, so whether lower prices shake any more out remains to be seen and some of Friday's lambs looked to have been a cleanout of lesser lambs.

The steers on offer felt the brunt of the chilly winds of a strong currency and general predictions of a falling beef schedule with steer and bull sale prices falling by around 20 cents per kilogram.

Six heavy Angus/Hereford cross 2-1/2 year steers from Matahiwi Farm, Masterton, sold for $1650 ($2.31) to top the sale and Friday's heaviest 1-1/2 year Angus steers from Findowrie Farm, Bulls, sold for $1270 ($2.36) and these cattle were virtually the same weight as last week's heaviest 18-month steers yet sold for $135/head less.

This is bad luck for some vendors, but cattle prices may fall more yet, and selling on Friday's market may look to be a good decision in the weeks to come.

That same vendor also sold Charolais cross 18-month steers for $1215 ($2.39), and most of the larger lines of black steers did not sell for their usual premium this week.

Even the bulls dropped, in spite of the usual demand, with similar falls to the steers.

Manawa Farm, Kairanga, Chris Wall's property, sold 12 2-1/2year Friesian bulls for $1480 ($2.30) - a price right up there with recent levels in dollar terms but also a drop in cpk and this was the story of the day, with the 18-month bulls suffering a similar fall.

There did seem to be a reduced easing in the market for smaller and younger cattle with the lesser traditional steers and heifers not back as far as the better types and reasonable interest for all the dairy cross weaners as buyers took a longer-term view.

One aspect to note is that

Friday's sale was not a large yarding.

PRICES

Sheep (7,370): ewes; MA (386), $127-$170; 2 th (290), $133-$152; lambs (6,587): 36-38 kg, $117-$123, $3.20-$3.23, ease; 31-35 kg, $102.50-$117, $3.20-$3.47, ease; 26-30 kg, $81-$103, $2.96-$3.57, ease.

Cattle (1,093): steers; 2 year (228), 409-713 kg, $772-$1650, $1.84-$2.43, ease; 1 year (390), 226-539 kg, $495-$1270, $2.07-$3.31, ease; weaner (53), 110-129 kg, $405-$525, $3.45-$4.45; bulls; 2 year (31), 496-645 kg, $165-$1480, $2.30-$2.35, ease; 1 year (108), 320-519 kg, $640-$1138, $1.87-$2.41, ease; weaner (33), 110-161 kg, $350-$500, $2.82-$3.27; heifers; 2 year (17), 410-490 kg, $825-$1052, $2.01-$2.15; 1 year (183), 192-426 kg, $507-$940, $1.90-$2.64, ease; weaner (50), 99-172 kg, $405-$420, $2.43-$4.12.