A SIGNIFICANT exporter will commence full operation in the new year, which put a spring in the step of stock agents at the Bendigo Livestock Exchange this week.
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The final lamb sale for 2014 was held on Monday, and the last cattle sale for the year was on Tuesday.
The arrival of significant new buyer the Australian Meat Group meant there was plenty of activity at the saleyards in the last two weeks of the year.
The group plans on slaughtering 11,000 sheep and lamb per day and 1500 head of cattle per day at abattoirs at Deniliquin and Ferntree Gully.
President of the Associated Stock and Station Agents of Bendigo Glenn Rea said the group had been major buyers in the last two weeks of mutton at Bendigo.
He said there were positive signs on a number of fronts.
"This time last year we were writing forward contracts for lambs at $4 per kilo .This year they're at $5.20 per kilo," Mr Rea said.
"The low Australian dollar, the short supply of cattle due to the Queensland drought and the USA going through two years of droughts has pushed cattle prices up this year.
"If there are massive rains in Queensland, the price will rise dramatically almost straight away.
"I think farmers are in for a good year next year."
Dry conditions for the second half of 2014 hit producers hard in the region from Birchip to some areas as close as Eastville.
Mr Rea said the season had made things tough for farmers west of Bendigo.
"The season started off promisingly with a good autumn break, but petered out," he said.
The first lamb sale of 2015 will be on January 5, cattle on January 6 and pigs on January 7.