A LOCAL farmer has ridden the wave of high lamb prices to land a personal best haul at the Bendigo livestock market last week.
Kulwin wheat farmer Philip Christie has been working with sheep all his farming life, and in that time he has become a proficient punter in the lamb market.
Mr Christie still remembers the exact date he took the national record for lamb prices at the Bendigo Livestock Exchange –– $133 on March 26, 2001 –– and has a front-page Guardian article of the accomplishment framed on his wall.
These days, though, lamb prices are much higher than that and Mr Christie has eclipsed that total without much fanfare.
At the end of last year –– when lamb prices looked to be well up on the previous financial year –– Mr Christie pledged to his friends that his stock were good enough for him to beat the $200 mark for the first time.
On top of this, he set a time to do it: the second or third week of June.
“I just guessed and calculated –– even the best guesses and calculations go astray –– but I just figured that by then the big lambs would have run out a bit,” Mr Christie said.
When the market peaked and dipped at the end of February and on into April, Mr Christie’s friends thought he wouldn’t make his target.
However, the Kulwin farmer made his goal at last week’s Bendigo sales, selling three lots at $208, $206 and $193 — his previous best was $183 –– with some of the rams weighing in at 40kg.
“It wasn’t about making money, it was about making the number –– getting over 200,” he said.
For more on this story, grab a copy of Wednesday’s Guardian (June 24).
