The last lamb sale in July at Dublin returned the worst prices that producers have seen for several years - so much for historical precedents.
I have been guilty of pushing the theory that the past two years have been mere aberrations and that the annual highs would return to their rightful place in June and July. I was wrong - again.
It now appears that the selling hot spots occur in January and February.
The reason for this seems to be unclear and the meat buyers and agents I have spoken to cannot give me a good reason for the change.
This year's line-up of lambs right through the autumn and winter have been outstanding. But the number of grainfed heavyweights has obviously exceeded the needs of exporters.
All the information available from industry bodies suggests that lamb exports are solid if not spectacular and the $A is at similar levels to last year, so it remains a mystery why the prices have been struggling.
Last week's prices were enough for someone to suggest that his lambs should be fitted with parachutes to protect them from the rapidity of the fall.
Of course, being the conscientious type, I was writing this article on Monday to meet my deadline when I thought that another poor sale this week would add a certain amount of gravitas to my bleatings.
The usual early Tuesday morning football banter with several veteran auctioneers inevitably turned to the question: "How did Bendigo go, yesterday?"
Having done the research, I quietly delivered the bad news that lambs had fallen by another $10.
The two auctioneers were suitably dismayed and one even went to the extent of threatening to go home.
These blokes really care about the returns that their clients receive, so the pain of working hard just to see disappointment on vendors' faces is hard to take.
People are always hungry for information at sales and I seem to be their idea of a credible source.
As gently as I could, I spread the bad news from Bendigo and prepared people for the worst, not only for this week's sale, but with more than a hint that things probably would not improve in the near future.
Thankfully, farmers are a stoic bunch and they received the news with a dignified degree of resignation.
But having used all my imagined credibility and integrity in an hour, those bloody meat buyers go and make me look foolish.
There are many who will happily argue that it is not a difficult task, but my reputation has been built on the premise that I am right, if only occasionally.
I want to know what happened to the disinterested mob that faced the rails last week.
They were suddenly replaced this week by blokes who looked the same but the shackles had been released.
One bid failed to win a pen, so they had to actually outbid each other to secure the numbers.
Source: farmonline.com.au
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