In 30 years as a stock agent, PGG Wrightson Dunedin livestock manager Andrew Kelleher has never seen prime ewes sell for $80 as they did at Allanton last Tuesday.
He was also surprised to see a clearing sale in South Otago of 4500 6-tooth ewes and older average $99.17 last month.
Six- tooths at the sale sold for $113.
How things have changed.
Renewed farmer interest and a shortage of sheep saw annual draft ewes that just a year ago sold on to a lacklustre market for $35 or $36 this year make $75 to $80.
Some store lamb sellers were receiving double the price they got last year for their lambs.
Mr Kelleher said one seller last year averaged $34 for his store lambs.
This year, without drought hanging over the industry and higher prime lamb prices, he averaged $68.
It was not unusual for store lambs to make more than $2.40 a kg live weight, making a 30kg lamb worth $72.
Mr Kelleher said a combination of higher prime lamb prices and tighter supply after young breeding stock was killed during last year's drought was underpinning higher store stock prices.
As a result of last year's higher kill, he said there was a shortage of 2-tooth ewes.
This led to a price peak of $168 last Thursday at Balclutha's 2-tooth ewe and ewe lambs fair, and $194 at Lorneville's 2-tooth fair last week.
Romney ewe lambs at Balclutha made $97 and mixed-age Romney cross ewes $99 and $110.
Mr Kelleher said it was too early to say if there was a swing away from dairy support back to sheep farming, but it appeared some farmers were rebuilding flocks after last year's drought.
"It has stopped the rush of people getting out of sheep."
While three-figure prices for prime lambs were being achieved, Mr Kelleher said it took a top lamb to earn that, but many kill sheets were averaging more than $80.
Sheep farmers were encouraged by the buoyancy, but Mr Kelleher said there was also an air of caution, as many had previously seen high prices suddenly plummet.
Store cattle prices were also stronger than last year, again due to the better growing season.
Yearling steers were making $2 a kg live weight and heifers $1.75 to $1.80.
Last year 2-year-old steers sold for about $1.35 a kg, but this year were worth $1.80 to $1.90 a kg live weight.
But conditions were starting to dry, especially in South Canterbury, which Mr Kelleher said had prompted the first Temuka weaner calf sale to be brought forward a month, to later this month.
While prime lamb prices have held up so far this season, the full impact of lower numbers was still to be felt by processors and farmers.
Alliance Group chief executive Grant Cuff said last week that the South Island sheep and lamb kill so far was 5.5 million compared with 5.9 million at the same time last year.
According to Meat and Wool New Zealand, there were four million fewer sheep to be killed for the remainder of the year ending in September.
Mr Cuff said those figures, showed there were an additional eight million sheep to be slaughtered for that period compared with 12 million for the same period last year.
It was a similar picture in the North Island, where five million had been killed compared with 5.1 million for the same time last year.
Meat and Wool New Zealand estimated a further 5.3 million sheep and lambs were left to be killed in the North Island, compared with 9.3 million last year.
Mr Cuff said these lower volumes were the main reason he was confident sheep meat pricing would remain high for the rest of the year.
Companies were filling their Easter commitments and Mr Cuff said, given the lower numbers, he doubted companies would enter a private war after Easter because that would not increase the number of available animals.
"The declining numbers are such that throwing money at it will not materially change a company's share, so the economics do not stack up."