COMPETITION was strong across the Merino fleece spectrum at the Australian Sheep & Wool Show ram sale on Monday.
Several agents and breeders presiding over the sale noted the solid quality catalogued, which was reflected by 150 of the 152 registered bidders finding something they liked.
Three of the superfine rams sold for $10,000 or over, while a few high-performing medium-strong wool rams also made five digits.
Click below for all the excitement from the auction
Overall, the sale average of $3462 was up on last year’s by $55, while 75 per cent of the 122 rams offered found buyers - equal to last year’s clearance rate.
Landmark auctioneer Andrew Sloane said the sale was reasonably firm given the ambling wool market, with bigger-bodied Merinos sought after this year to accommodate the optimism around lamb prices.
“The polls sold very well, they’re definitely taking over, but certainly the horns sold very well, and people are still wool conscious. If there’s better wool on a horned ram they’ll pay for it,” he said.
Many of the top sale rams were snapped up by NSW buyers this year, however there was sound competition from Victoria and several rams going West to South Australia and Western Australia.
The hype surrounding Grathlyn’s supreme ram translated into a sale-topping price of $25,000, which was bid by a syndicate of NSW studs.
Click the photo below to see all the action from the Merino auction:
Walwa stud, Gurrundah, were the majority buyers in the syndicate, with Demondrille, Harden; Conrayn, Berridale; Hillcresten Park, Bigga; and Merrignee Merino stud, Boorowa all getting semen rights.
Walwa principal Alan McCormack said he had never seen a better ram.
“I came down with half an idea of buying him, and when I saw him I thought ‘That’s it, I will buy this sheep’,” Mr McCormack said.
“He’s almost perfect; he has tremendous wool quality, tremendous staple length and a great sirey outlook. I’ve seen ewes as good as him, but I’ve never seen a ram that is better.”
After winning Elders Clip of the Year in Sydney earlier this year, the stud was aiming to stay proactive and continue improving their wool clip, he said.
The 17.1-micron ram would fit perfectly in to their 16-18M stud, he said, and matched other traits running through their stud.
The ram was sired by Langdene 074073, and featured fleece measurements of a 2.9 standard deviation, co-efficient of variation of 17.0, comfort factor of 99.6 per cent and curvature of 57.
He was taken home by the Rayner family to be shedded and shown by Grathlyn at the Dubbo National before heading to his new home at Walwa.
Mr McCormack said less than an hour after casting their winning bid Walwa had sold 400 doses of semen.
Overall Grathlyn sold five rams for av $6050.
Stud principal Andrew Rayner said he was happy with the price given the current climate of the wool market, and was willing to part with the supreme champion as there was another drop of six full sibling of the ram coming on for next year.
Graham Coddington, Coddington Poll Merino, Yeoval, NSW, made the second top of $20,000 for the opening lot of the sale; a Poll Merino that was sashed fine/medium wool ram of the show.
Mr Coddington made the decision to put the ram on the market just before it was knocked down, but said he was happy with the price.
The winning bidder was Paul Blanche from recently-founded stud Brightling Park, Bathurst, NSW, who also bought another Coddington ram for $7000.
Along with the ram’s fleece attributes, it was the muscling in the body that got Mr Blanche really interested.
“It was our expectation that we may have to pay up to $30,000, and we thought that would have been good value for a ram we consider to be simply the best poll ram we’ve ever seen,” he said.
“We are traditional superfine Poll Merino breeders, but we realise wool itself is not enough and we have to focus on meat.
“We think he will be the answer in bringing about a commercially strategic shift for us to deliver better commercial profits from out commercial sheep and hopefully for people who buy Agar’s semen as well.”
Agar was the top-priced ram won supreme Poll Merino at Campbell Town earlier in the year and was praised by judges through the Show for its superior carcase and fleece qualities.
The run of four Coddington Poll rams made an average of $7265.
Bundaleer Merino and Poll Merino stud, Alma Park, NSW, also had a great day, and surprised many with their averages of $6750 and $6375 for four poll and four horned rams respectively.
Their top ram made $14,000, which went to a syndicate of Tasmanian and NSW buyers.
The 18.5M, 14-month-old ram had fleece measurements of 2.3 SD, 12.4 CV and a 99.8 CF.
Six of the eight Bundaleer rams were sold to Tasmanian buyers.
Stud co-principal Gavin Lieschke and brother Peter were blown away with the prices, which were well up in last year’s sale average of $2967 across four rams.
They had acquired a decent following in Tasmania in the past four years for their wool quality and size, Gavin said, and the stud planned to sell another ten horns and polls at Sheepvention.
Along with physical attributes of their sheep, it was their hardiness and longevity that had attracted clients, he said.
Merryville stud, Booroowa, NSW, also continued their string of high-priced sales at Bendigo, making $10,000 for a 16.7M ram that was bought by an agent for a Tasmanian client.
Wurrook Poll Merino stud, Rokewood sold the top Victorian-bred rams for $5500 to SM&JA Kayess, Booroowa, which won superfine poll ram of the show; while Oakbank, Gre Gre North, sold a ram for $5000 Western Australian buyers via Elders Katanning, WA.