EASING rain conditions helped boost the yarding at this week's Warwick sheep sale and helped ewes reach a top of $188 a head.
Wednesday's yarding of about 1050 head was well up on the 364 head from the week before, thanks to drier weather conditions paving the way for more vendors to make it to the saleyards.
The ewe category, which consisted of 115 head, benefitted the most from the larger yarding as prices ranged from the $188/hd top to a low of $31.
However, most offerings in the category sold for an average of about $114.
A yarding of 657 head of young lambs, the biggest category of Wednesday's sale, also benefitted from the drier conditions as restockers and processors alike looked to cash in.
Young lambs snapped up by restockers sold to a top of $136 and at an average of 90, while butcher-weight lambs sold to a top of $189 and averaged $185.
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Rounding out the category was a solid offering of lambs to the local meat trade, which averaged $185 and sold to $198 and lambs sold to the wholesale meat trade, which peaked at $202 to average $190.
Overall, the 657-head category ranged in price from a top of $202 to a low of $10 and at an average of about $161.
It was a similar story in the old lamb category, which was slightly down from the week before, as the overall offering of 88 head ranged in price from a low of $90 to a top of $188, which was down from a top of $240 from last week.
Most pens sold for an average of $145, which was back from an average of $203 at the previous sale, although the yarding was larger due to the improved weather conditions.
The wether category was similarly well represented at Wednesday's sale, with 88 head up for bids.
That offering was considerably larger than last week's yarding of 10 wethers, but prices remained stead prices ranging from about $116 to a top of $150, which was up from a top of $124 at last week's sale.
Most pens sold for an average of about $120.
One of the few categories that was similar in size to last week's sale was the hogget market, which featured 37 head.
However, prices at this week's sale were back across the category as the effects of the prolonged wet weather slightly impacted the quality of the yarding.
Prices across the category ranged from $60 to a top of $170 with an average price of about $132, which was back from an average price of $170 at last week's sale.
Rounding out the sale was 11 rams, which were snapped up by restockers for an average price of about $152.
Several dorper rams topped the category at $290 to average $222.