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Sheeeep! WA lamb price smashed at $320 per head as saleyard competition heats up

Cally Dupe and Georgia CampionCountryman
A mix of delayed turnoff due to seasonal conditions, booming export orders — especially from the Middle East, US, and Asia — and a low Australian dollar has driven intense demand for quality stock.
Camera IconA mix of delayed turnoff due to seasonal conditions, booming export orders — especially from the Middle East, US, and Asia — and a low Australian dollar has driven intense demand for quality stock. Credit: Cally Dupe/Countryman

WA’s lamb market has gone into overdrive, with the State’s price record smashed six times in just seven days and culminating in a new high of $320 per head at the Katanning Regional Sheep Saleyards.

The top-priced pen of heavyweight lambs was sold during a massive yarding of 18,060 sheep and lambs on Wednesday, July 23, with strong results across all categories.

It surpassed the previous record — set only a day earlier at Muchea Livestock Centre near Perth — by $19.

The surge began on Wednesday, July 16, when WA’s long-standing lamb price record was broken for the first time in six years, with a pen of White Suffolk lambs reaching $297 per head.

The pen of heavyweight lambs was offered by Gnowellen producers Jeff and Kate Stoney.

Just six days later, on Tuesday, July 22, the bar was raised again at Muchea Livestock Centre.

Brendon Hume of Ajana sold a “tidy” pen of Merino and Poll Dorset cross lambs for $301 — but it was a short-lived record that lasted less than 24 hours before the record was smashed at Katanning on July 23.

The $320 record was a standout result amid a strong sale at Katanning that day, when the record was broken again three times in one day after a line of heavy crossbred lambs sold for $309 per head before a different line sold for $316.

It was Bunbury-based processor V&V Walsh that smashed that record, buying a pan of heavy crossbred lambs for $320 per head through Elders. The lambs belonged to Mark and Lisa Pearce of Tarin Rock.

Mr Pearce, a primarily grains farmer, said the sale of the White Suffolk cross Merino lambs was the last of their flock so they could instead focus on soil health.

He said they were surprised and “blown away” by the price of the lambs which he only expected to sell for about $200, and was optimistic about the future prices of sheep.

Mr Pearce was not present at the auction and found out about the sale from a friend who sent a video of the auction, who he thought was playing a joke on him.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had anything over the mid-hundred — I never got to $200,” he said.

“I’m sure the price will get beaten this week, I think it’s been sweet for the sheep farmers who have suffered through the bad times.”

Prices were strong across all categories as processors, exporters, and restockers competed fiercely for stock.

Heavy sheep and lamb lines led the way, with heavyweight wethers topping at $268, crossbred hoggets making up to $253, and prime ewe hoggets and heavy ewes both hitting $266.

Lamb prices have been rising sharply throughout 2025, with the national lamb price record broken at least eight times so far this year.

A mix of delayed turnoff due to seasonal conditions, booming export orders — especially from the Middle East, US, and Asia — and a low Australian dollar has driven intense demand for quality stock.

Australia’s national lamb price record has been shattered at least eight times so far this year, underscoring intense competition driven by drought, floods, and booming export demand.

The latest national record was set on July 22, when a pen of 33 heavy lambs sold for a staggering $460 per head at Forbes, NSW — $6 more than the previous national benchmark set just a week prior.

Lamb price records have also fallen in Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia during the past week.

Despite the upward momentum, WA prices still trail those seen in the eastern states, where Victoria’s lamb record sits at $450, and Tasmania’s at $422 and South Australia’s at $408.

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