Robin Steen - PPHS Naracoorte

Robin Steen
Director
Pinkerton Palm Hamlyn & Steen Pty Ltd
Livestock & Property Agents

Congratulations to David Nolan and his team for producing a very broad industry newsletter with a large coverage of this great Country. 

SEASON. 

We have been blessed in our region this year with a very good season but this was only in the South East of our State really and we too were looking down the barrel until one fabulous rain turned our season from average to a very good one.This rain put millions and millions of dollars on crops,hay and pasture paddocks and allowed us to market our livestock without the pressure of forced sales. 

The past month has been cool with odd showers which has made curing hay difficult but with a bit of warm weather this is now well in hand. 

LIVESTOCK -SHEEP and LAMB 

Our lamb run is nearly over with most lambs having now been shorn ready for the summer / autumn.We were blessed with unbelievable lamb prices right through our selling season until the past couple of weeks where the volume of good lambs have now chocked up the abattoirs and seen heavy lamb prices tumble from over $7.20 back to around $6.00 /$6.20. 

This pricing is only temporary as forward contracts take the price well over $7.00 into January. Abbottior kill capacity is my concern going forward as good seasons return and volume grows again, the industry will require future investment to cover this capacity as we do have an elite product that the world is looking for. 

The mutton job has been a little up and down but still well above our normal spring price levels as export companies have seen mutton giving them a better return than when lamb was very dear in August /September. 

The live export of sheep has always put the floor price in the mutton market and enabled the industry to handle more large numbers of heavy sheep. With this in disarray and our lack of kill capacity, it allows the Export Abbattoirs the luxury of numbers and then price discounting occurs.(Human Nature) 

The definition of over supply is “ one too many and you have a glut and watch the price tumble” This very evident in WA where they lack the kill capacity and have huge distances to truck stock . LIVESTOCK -CATTLE 

We have just finished our first WEANER SALE and were very happy with the results. 4,700 steers sold $50/$60 above agents expectations in a magnificent quality yarding of Australian’s finest WEANERS. 

Most steers were slightly lighter than last year but there were still 90 % of the yarding over 300kgs out to over 400 kgs at 9/10months of age. 

To make it easy for all ,converted to a cents per kg price made $2.90 to $3.15 /kg live with some feature lots slightly higher. 

It was very evident that the two major agents who sell dollars per head were $20-$40 dearer than the liveweight way. 

2,100 Heifers sold to solid demand at prices that were acceptable to the vendors. Feedlotters were the strength at both sales with SE ,GIPPSLAND and WESTERN VICTORIA supplying return buying support. 

FEATURE SALES - NOVEMBER. 

We were involved in the following sales TELANG - Kingston SE on farm sale. 

3,578 BL/Mo/East Friesian x ewe lambs sold to $286 and averaged $223.62 3905 wether lambs top $157 av $145.98 

Great Result 

NARACOORTE FEATURE BL/MO 1 1/2 yr old sale. Agents Yarded 21,000 of which PPHS had 9844. 

We sold to a top of $384 to average $ 305.30 in a very good sale considering the pressure put on the sale by surplus sheep from drought areas of NSW coming south. 

NARACOORTE FEATURE BL/MO EWE LAMB SALE.

Agents yarded 35,000 lambs of which PPHS yarded 16,199 lambs. Top price of $302 to av $210.47. 

We as a company purchased 75% of our own lambs to support our vendors. 

To include RMA Agents and a couple of associated friendly agents together we purchased over 90% of our catalogue .A great effort from the private agents. 

COORANGA BL / MO LAMB SALE. 

14,000 ms lambs were yarded with the ewes averaging $186 and being cheaper than we expected but the wether lambs av $165 and sold very well. 

The tops of the wether lambs June/ July drop averaged over 60kgs (weighed) and the butchers bought for $205. 3,500 wether lambs were bought to feed on by Fletchers of Dubbo. 

WHAT’s HAPPENING TO THIS ONCE GREAT NATION. 

Politics and minorities are strangling a great nation. 

Authorities allow protesters to invade private properties and do very little about it and don’t prosecute any of them .The last two invasions were a pig farm and a duck farm. 

I bet if any of us took 50 farmers into one of their houses and took over for the day the police would be there in force and make a bigger effort than on our commercial properties. 

TELL ME WHATS THE DIFFERENCE. Really makes you feel like returning fire . 

The last thing in this little note I wish to address is SOCIAL MEDIA/ MOBILE PHONES. Why are we all allowing this crap to run our lives 

People expect an instant answer to a text message or a phone call and it takes peoples attention away from doing their job properly and at times can place them in a dangerous position. 

The cost to the poor over regulated small and large businesses that cop the down time and the errors that follow is huge. 

Well hope you all find time to enjoy CHRISTMAS with your family and friends and have a great break. 

Come back DON’T answer your phone for a month unless people leave a message and the traffic on it might make life easier for you. 

Regards ROBIN STEEN. 

PPHS NARACOORTE SA