More than 5000 Romney lambs on offer at an annual on-farm auction sold at Mt Stalker Station, west of Herbert, fetching between $75 and $110.
Stock manager Ray Smith said it was a little drier than normal on the more than 8000ha property.
He had worked there for about 20 years and it had been drier before, he said.
The sale had been scheduled for mid March because the date suited buyers who had grown grain and regrassed paddocks and needed lambs.
Usually after weaning the ewes were shifted to summer blocks in the hills but they were being kept on lower country due to the dry conditions.
If the sale was kept to the original date, the lambs would be eating feed which could be used to flush the ewes and improve their body condition.
Station owner Hamish Paterson said the station was dry but not as dry as other areas of North Otago.
"I didn’t have much of a choice or I’d have issues at the other end," he said.
Summer had been tracking well but it began getting dry from the first week of last month, he said.
Rural Livestock agent Callum Stalker said a mixture of wind and very little rain had stunted grass growth in North Otago.
"The wind has browned everything off," he said.
Kakanui sheep and mixed cropping farmer Tim Ludemann was at the sale to buy lambs as he had feed available on his 200ha coastal farm.
The plan was to finish lambs as quickly as possible to 45kg live weight and send them to the works.
Irrigation was installed on his farm in 2017.
"This is the first time it has really shown up big time — normally you don’t notice it too bad," he said.
The weather patterns were different every year but extreme rain events were becoming more common.
"Instead of getting 20mm of rain, you get 60mm," he said.
The dry conditions had been good for growing wheat and barley.
