PRICES for heavy lamb and sheep remained high as farmers continued their golden run at the Bendigo saleyards yesterday.But shoppers will feel the effect, a spokesman for Coles said.Lamb and other red meat prices were rising because of strong demand, tight supplies and record saleyard prices. The only good news was that pork and chicken prices had dropped slightly, he said. Yesterday’s yarding rose 1870 to 17,114, with 3400 merino lambs, 10,449 crossbred lambs and 3265 ewes offered.Despite a price drop from last week, many farmers agreed prices were still firm as the last of the season’s stock goes to market.Farmer Allan Strang sold 191 heavy lambs, fetching about $168 a head for 109 second cross lambs and $162 for the others.But Mr Strang stopped short of calling it a boom. Prices were about where they should be if the industry was to remain sustainable.‘’I wouldn’t call it a boom, particularly with additional raising costs and increased production costs.’’Elders got the top price for heavy lambs of $174, down $14 a head on last week.Elders manager Graeme Miller said: ‘‘As the first sheep and lamb sale of the week, Bendigo’s yards often set the standard for many of Australia’s sales and can determine the market rate.’’A large majority of central Victoria’s heavy lambs were bought by exporters as demand from the US, Canada, Europe and Asian markets contributed to the higher prices.