Solid support at North Ashrose

A full clearance and firm average of $1890 - with a modest top of $5000 - ensured buyers could comfortably fill their ram orders with quality sires at value prices.

Jon Rasheed, Minburra Station, Orroroo, has been buying North Ashrose rams since 2007 and paid the $5000 top for a Poll Merino ram by a North Ashrose family sire.

The 110-kilogram March-shorn ram measured 19.1-micron with a 2.9 standard deviation, 15.3 per cent coefficient of variation and 99.5pc comfort factor, and had a 7pc Dual Purpose Index of 130.

Mr Rasheed said the rams wool was what had attracted him to the sire.

"He's got good style and structure," he said.

The ram will be used on Mr Rasheed's South East property where it will be joined to elite mixed blood ewes to breed rams for his station properties.

"He's that sort of big-framed sheep that will do well in the pastoral country up north," he said.

"Plus he's got that richness and thickness in the wool - nice white, bright, rich breeding wool."

Mr Rasheed headed home with a total of 19 rams, averaging $1674.

The Morgan family's Mutooroo Pastoral Company, via Broken Hill, paid the $4800 second-top price for another Poll Merino sire.

By Metric, the 116kg ram had a 7pc DP Index of 132, and measured 18.5M, 3.6SD, 19.5CV and 99.2pc CF.

Mooleulooloo Station's Richard Treloar has been buying at North Ashrose for about eight years, and previously Ashrose since 1954.

He continues to return to North Ashrose as he finds the sheep handle his pastoral conditions well.

"We were having trouble with sand and dirt getting into our wool, and the North Ashrose genetics cured that problem," he said.

"The wool types are far superior."

Mr Treloar secured six rams to $4000, averaging $3075.

His top purchase was a 109kg Merino ram measuring 19.8M, 2.9SD, 14.7CV and 99.4pc CF, with a 7pc DP Index of 118.

Volume buyer of the day was Therlow Downs Station, buying through Landmark Bourke, NSW.

Therlow Downs put a solid floor in the sale and took a total of 28 rams home at $1200 each.

WH Lines & Co, Wilmington, secured 17 rams at a $2315 average, and Elders Nyngan, NSW, took the same number at a $1612 average.

The Hurst family's Lake Hawdon Props, Robe, took seven at a $1686 average, while Barratta Pastoral, Jamestown, and MJ&JA Wandel, Elliston, each took six rams, averaging $1500 and $117 respectively.

North Ashrose's Tom Ashby said the sale saw good competition right through, without any really high prices.

"It was certainly a solid sale right through the first half, with good value buying and good buying towards the end," he said.

"We're really pleased that in the current market the sale hasn't risen by a huge amount, making it affordable for all commercial buyers."

Mr Ashby was also pleased with the way the North Ashrose wools were coming along.

"They're showing the staple length and fleece weight, and the 7pc DP Index is showing the attributes we are trying to breed," he said.

This was also illustrated in the results of the recent commercially-focused school wethers competition at Royal Adelaide Show, where a team of North Ashrose wethers - exhibited by Clare High School - took out the competition for the third year in a row.

Landmark auctioneer Gordon Wood said the Ashby family's success in the show ring had continued to the sale arena.

"The sheep's commercial value is evident, one of the truest indicators of this being the commercial buyers who keep coming back each year," he said.

"They don't divert from the North Ashrose bloodlines which tells you they're doing the job."

Elders auctioneer Tom Penna echoed these sentiments, highlighting the solid support of long-term North Ashrose clients.

"The pastoral buyers really put a solid base in the sale," he said.

"And they're really getting the results of buying these better rams.

"It's a win-win today, with a good sale for the Ashbys, and good solid value for their clients."

The sale was conducted by Landmark and Elders, with Elders' Damien Webb joining Mr Penna and Mr Wood in selling duties.