Stud breeders wanting to be part of 2019 Sheep Week need to act quickly as entries close on Sunday.
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Past entrants of Sheep Week are full of praise at the flow on effects to their businesses and have encouraged other producers to enter ahead of this Sunday's cut off.
Now in its third year a number of sheep breeders from across NSW, Victoria and South Australia - from Dubbo to Bordertown - have already secured their spot in the event running from June 17 to June 27.
Breeders could not see a better time industry wise to display and market their breeding enterprises to established and prospective buyers of their genetics.
Market indicators for trade lambs this week stood at 703 cents a kilogram compared with 626c/kg in 2018 while the sheep indicator was at 502c/kg, up nearly 40c/kg on 2018.
At the same time wool's Eastern Market Indicator was at 1947c/kg on March 28. While off its peaks of the previous month, wool experts pointed to the strong demand and competition for good style lots.
Bernie Kealy from Curlew Merino, Edenhope, recommends Sheep Week as a way of displaying what your genetics will produce.
Mr Kealy said the 2018 event had been a success for them with a good number of their current clients as well as family and local sheep producers attending.
"For us it was really good. As a result of Sheep Week we tripled our ram sales," he said.
"I think that if a producer is considering changing their genetics, then Sheep Week is a great opportunity to see what other genetics produce, without the pressure to buy that day," Mr Kealy said.
He and his sister Elise run the stud which was founded by their father Tony.
The current wool market was really strong and created a good outlook for the industry.
The season in the south west meant sheep numbers were around normal levels and some producers may be looking to take advantage of demand when farmers in drought areas start to restock.
Curlew will have a display including large numbers of one year old rams that will be for sale later in the year as well as some older sires on display.
The Funke family of Bundara Downs White Suffolk and Poll Dorset stud, Bordertown, SA, are also believers in Sheep Week.
The family made their Sheep Week debut last year after hearing of its success from other entrants.
Stud spokesperson Greg Funke said 18 or 19 people attended but the biggest reward came afterwards.
"We picked up five clients from that who bought in our sale," he said.
"We had an exceptional result.
"The people kept coming through and we have got some studs close together, which is more of a draw card."
Bundara Downs display stud and flock rams ahead of their September sale.
Eating quality traits have become a firm focus of their business for the last six or seven years, using genetic tools and processor data to get the most from their animals.
"To start with there wasn't enough information so the accuracies were fairly low so it made it a bit hard to put merit towards too much stuff," Mr Funke said.
"Now I think we own and use the highest index rams in Australia at the moment (for eating quality)."
Entries for Sheep Week close on Sunday, April 14.
