There was just 2100 lambs and 3000 sheep yarded, with the fortnightly sale set to resume on January 16.
There was some handy shorn lambs off grain before quality quickly dropped away into a very mixed run of lighter lambs lacking fat cover.
A few pens of heavy shorn trade lambs, grain assisted, sold from $136 to a top of $157.20 for about 28kg carcase weight.
Some woolly unshorn lambs which still had weight and fat cover reached $149.20.
All the decent pens of trade and heavier slaughter lambs were tracking between 520c to 570c/kg carcase weight.
There was a lot of small and odd pen lots in the lighter lambs which fluctuated around quality.
The better types suiting MK processing orders were dearer.
There was also some very strong sales of little store lambs at times.
The sheep market had solid buying depth from a couple of processors and the good lines of Merino ewes averaged 200c and better.
Some extra heavy meat ewes sold to $75.60 while Merinos in a skin topped at $88.
Restockers purchased some young Merino ewes at up to $91. Light sheep were $16 to $35/head.
Top sales:
Lambs - Pisasale Farms, $157.20; SA Hood & Grant Lundie, $153.
Sheep - Stan Woods, $88; TC & JM Clark, $85.20; Nigel Wettenall, $79.60.
~ Contributed by Meat Livestock Australia market reporter Jenny Kelly and Deniliquin Saleyards manager Greg White on behalf of the Deniliquin Associated agents.
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