While prime lamb judge Joe Browne acknowledged the quality of the prime lamb on display at the Tenterfield Show, as a buyer of lamb for the domestic butcher trade he was concerned at the size of the animals on offer.
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“They’re too big for the butcher trade,” he said.
“The cuts they end up in are too big and too expensive.
He said such export market-sized animals have a place, but that breeders should not be ignoring the domestic market.
“Producers will have to have a look at getting back to trade-weight lambs,” he said, although he conceded the attraction in producing heavier animals considering the high per-kilo prices being secured in current markets.