Parkes Phoenix Editor

Established in 1903, Miller and James Real Estate Temora is much more than just a traditional real estate business. Miller and James principles, Chris Reardon and Angus McLaren have been involved in agriculture all their lives. They were both raised on family farms and know agriculture in our region back to front. They understand that rural property transactions involve a lot more than putting a sign on the front gate and a couple of ads in the local paper.

Mr McLaren says the key to the success of Miller and James is relationship building. “Our business has been operating for 113 years. We have been dealing with some clients for three generations or more. Whether people are selling, buying or leasing rural property, we have a database that can find a solution to what our clients require in any situation. That is where we add value.”

Mr McLaren also said that as farms have become larger, Miller and James had made a conscious decision to increase the geographic spread of the business. “We basically service from the Lachlan to the Murray. We pop up all over the place. We may be based in Temora, but we travel everywhere. No farm is too big or too small for us to look at.”

With the rural property market very strong at the moment, Mr McLaren believes now is a good time for those people considering retirement or a change in direction to contact Miller and James to arrange an onfarm
meeting. “We provide free market appraisals and the best thing is that it doesn’t cost you a cent to talk to us,” said Mr McLaren

Wow what a month we have seen. With widespread rain throughout all of the eastern states of Australia we have seen some fire in our livestock markets. With this wide spread rain we have seen numbers restrict further in the sheep and cattle markets which intern has had positive gains in prices.

In the cattle market we are noticing a purely supply and demand driven market, with numbers low through all grades we are seeing restocking and feeder steers making from $3.40 to $3.80 c/kg, feeder and restocking heifers are making in excess of $3.00 c/kg and up to $3.50c/kg. On the export front we have seen some great gains with heavy steers and bullocks back over the $3.00 c/kg mark and up to $3.25c/kg, and cow supply has tightened and seen most grades receiving promising gains with the best of your heavy cows making up to $2.50 c/kg. I believe this cattle market for the next month will stay considerably strong as long as numbers stay low and demand keeps high.

To the sheep and lamb markets, hold onto your hats because things are really heating up, but for how long? With the lamb market we are seeing very strong gains in both domestic and export markets with most domestic and export processors offering over the hook rates in excess of $6.00 c/kg and in the saleyards we are seeing the best heavy trade and light export lambs making from $145 and up to $170 and the extra heavy lambs making up to $230.

The mutton market has rallied on to sky high rates with most mutton making in excess of $4.00c/kg and in the yards with the best of the heavy mutton making up to $170 for full wool heavy merino ewes and wethers.

So until next month let’s hope for these strong prices to continue. For any other information on market trends or marketing options don’t hesitate to call.

By Adam Chudleigh

Week ending: 2 June 2016
With just over 34,000 bales offered nationally, the results for the week were largely reflective of supply. For Merino Fleece that meant a focus on the small volume of 20.1 and broader, which resulted in a slight firming over the two days. Meanwhile the larger portion of the Merino Fleece sector, which was in the finer microns, proved to be a drag on the market. The better types (stylish/40nkt) still managed good results and were in line with last week but the lower spec types had unconvincing support and were generally 10 to 20 cents cheaper.

“Room2” types also found good demand on limited volume. Merino Skirtings were mostly unchanged on the previous sale with Beststyle/low VM types maintaining recent buyer enthusiasm. Merino Carding recorded strong results with increases of 5-20 cents. Crossbreds had a mixed outing with increases in some microns being balanced out by losses elsewhere. Next week’s offering of 28,594 bales, will be the smallest sale in 12months.