CONNEWARRAN Merino Stud's Hamish Weatherly is excited about this year's ram selling season, mainly because of the quality of their up-and-coming rams on offer.
The stud is gearing up to put rams under the hammer at the Ballarat Sheep Sale, Australian Sheep & Wool Show at Bendigo and Hamilton Sheepvention. They also market their sires privately.
"We think we've got some great rams on offer," he said.
"There's been a little bit of buoyancy in the wool market, which will hopefully get people's attention. But mainly we are just looking forward to showing our sheep to people."
It is the first time the Weatherly family will sell at the Ballarat ram sale.
"We really wanted to get behind the local sale, and also broaden the range of people that see our rams," he said.
Hamish has been running the Mortlake-based operation for about two years now, with his parents Richard and Jenny Weatherly.
They run 750 stud ewes and 1200 flock ewes, which average 18.5 micron and cut up to 8 kilograms of wool.
The stud prides itself on the fact it is able to present information to potential buyers from sire evaluation trials, which Hamish said provided independent evidence on the quality of their animals.
Connewarran has entered seven sires in nine trials since 2007.
Six sires ranked in the top three in one or more Australian Sheep Breeding Value (ASBV) indexes, or in fleece weight, while one sire ranked fourth.
Hamish was particularly proud of their most recently evaluated entry, Connewarran 0040, which ranked first in the Merino Production Plus index, second in Dual Purpose Plus and Fibre Production Plus indexes, second in greasy and clean fleece weight, and second in adult live weight.
Connewarran 0040 will be on display at the stud's on-property field day on Friday, July 24.
"Another outstanding result was in 2010, when Connewarran 8002 ranked first in greasy and clean fleece weights and first in all four published indexes," he said.
His father Richard said the stud promoted their genetics as being "tested and proven" - and the sire evaluation trials allowed them to back up that statement.
One big difference this year is the fact the stud will provide ASBVs to their clients, some of whom find ASBVs a valuable tool in terms of ram selection.
