QUALITY lamb meat is reaching record prices both at the saleyards and at the local butchers, with many happy customers coming in for a shank or a roast.
Foster’s Foodland butcher David Clapham has reported the quality of the meat is the best that he and his customers have seen in a while.
“People are buying the same amount, but we have had very few complaints and people just keep coming back to the lamb,” he said.
“When lamb is on special or marked down, that is when we see a high volume of sales.”
Lamb reached up to $295 per head at the Glenburnie Saleyards earlier this year in line with a price surge seen across the state.
At the Naracoorte Regional Livestock Exchange in June, the James family from Coolawang Border Leicester stud saw their lambs go for $337 in a new state record.
The family attributed their success to “breed and feed”, with a winning combination of good genetics and grain.
At the Bledinga stud in Mount McIntyre, third-generation sheep farmer Mark Teagle believes the demand for good quality lamb is due to limited supply.
Australia continues to be the leading country for high quality lamb and wool, with the most recent report from Mecardo risk management specialist Andrew Whitelaw predicting sheep meat exported from Australia will continue to dominate in Asia.
The dairy industry is disrupting the traditional sheep industries of New Zealand and Nigeria and China continue to have a primarily domestic market for their own lamb and wool, stated Mr Whitelaw at a Natural Resources Management South East conference on March 14.
Mr Teagle also has not seen the demand for lamb from China slowing down any time soon, with meatworks continuing to fulfil their contracts with local suppliers.
At Bledinga, Mr Teagle achieves success at the saleyards with heavy cross-breed sheep.
“We stick to what works, as we know what we can get out of them,” Mr Teagle said about the livestock.
