WIMMERA livestock producers were rewarded on Wednesday with sheep and lambs reaching record prices at the Horsham Regional Livestock Exchange.
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A pen of 64 lambs from the Brook family at Goroke sold for $301 a head, while a pen of 134 lambs from the Shrive family at Harrow sold for $300.
Meanwhile, a pen of merino wethers sold for $265 a head.
Rodwells Wimmera area manager Wayne Driscoll said the prices were off the charts.
He said $301 was a record for the Horsham saleyard.
The price was also a state record for the week after lambs sold in Ballarat for $300 on Tuesday.
"We had good results last year in spring but this is the best we've seen in a long time," he said.
"They were very good lambs and it just shows the strength of the market."
The crossbred lambs were lot fed.
Mr Driscoll said the high prices were a reward for producers in the region.
"The lambs were lot fed so there has been a cost to get them to this condition, especially with high grain prices at the moment," he said.
"This is massive for the area, and it's been a long-time coming for people.
"We haven't had a result like this for a while and producers need to be rewarded for their efforts - it's a credit to them to have lambs looking this good on the cusp of June.
"About six to seven weeks ago we were selling lambs and producers were only just recouping the their costs."
Mr Driscoll said there was a lack of supply across eastern Australia at the moment.
"It will be a difficult time for producers going forward in terms of supply," he said.
"Hopefully we see some good results in the sucker department in spring, when the grass gets going."
Apsley's Warren Stephens sold 223 wethers for $265 a head on Wednesday.
He said it was the best result he's ever had.
"It's unbelievable - we got $150 a while ago and we thought we were made," he said.
"Today I was hoping to get $200."
Mr Stephens' second pen of wethers sold for $220.
Horsham Regional Livestock Exchange manager Paul Christopher said the saleyard was getting more and more strong sales every week.
"We had multiple sales over $200 on Wednesday," he said.
"Many producers have been feeding their stock and grain prices are expensive at the moment - hay is worth a fortune.
"It's good to see producers getting the results they deserve."
Mr Christopher said the number of livestock coming through the saleyard was double it was this time last year.
"The past four weeks have been really strong," he said.
"The market is all money driven and we having lambs come in from all over - on Wednesday we had lambs from Broken Hill and parts of South Australia."
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