Booking queens for April already — how far ahead do you order, and is an early queen worth the premium?

Tuscany, fourteen years, 40 colonies. My queen supplier opened his books last week for next spring and I've been caught out enough times to take it seriously. My pattern now: I decide my numbers in October from my own records, order in November for the earliest delivery the breeder offers, and then order a second batch for early summer when the local mating is better and the queens are cheaper. What I'd like other people's views on is whether the early premium is worth it. An April queen here costs noticeably more than a June one, and there's a real argument that she was reared in conditions that don't favour good queens — early season, fewer drones, cooler mating weather — and that an overwintered queen sold in spring is a better product than one rushed out in March. But an early queen requeens a colony before the main flow, and a June queen means a colony that never really performs that year. So: do you pay for early, do you wait for quality, or do you raise your own and only buy to bring in new genetics? And how much notice do the breeders in your regions actually need?