Dubbo agents presented one of their bigger offerings of sheep and lambs on Monday, May 3, when the draw comprised 15,300 lambs and 3500 grown sheep.
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The market, in general, was slightly softer, albeit still at a very strong level.
The market appears to have very little difference in the prices received for the various categories, provided they are presented in prime condition.
One grazier from the Neilrex district saw his top pen of lambs receive $242.00, his pen of hoggets made $240 and his old 1st cross ewes, no doubt the mothers of some of the progeny presented in prime condition, also achieved a knock down price of $240.00.
Across the board, a very pleasing result.
TRADE
In a previous column, a thought was expressed that China would need to maintain its levels of protein imports, as it does appear that they have seen another wave of African Swine Fever (ASF), which is once again ravaging their hog production.
The tip now is that while Australia is still on the outer, the suggestion is that Brazil, Argentina and other South American countries will be the winners in terms of tonnage and price.
This scenario is quite correct in the short-term, but as we have seen many times before, all the above-mentioned countries will place an embargo on beef for export once the price becomes too expensive for domestic consumers.
In these Latin American countries, the consumption of beef is huge and thus it has become very much part of any government port-barrelling.
It is a fact of life; a government in those countries must feed their own population first at a reasonable price before they export beef overseas.
Japan for January sourced 12,541 tonnes from Australia, and was our biggest purchaser for that month but was back a substantial 31 per cent compared to the same month the previous year.
South Korea took 8421tn, which was an amount somewhat similar to its 10-year average.
RAIN STATISTICS
Some rainfall stats that are slightly out of date but probably worth repeating.
The past summer was the wettest since 2016/2017.
Last December, was the third wettest December since records began in 1900.
Our coolest summer since 2011/12.
NSW in general received 29 per cent above the average rainfall for the summer.
Talking rainfall, a scattering of rain across the Dubbo saleyard catchment area over the past two days saw numbers for the cattle sale on Thursday, May 6, drop to 123 head.