The North East Merinos Breeders will host their 21st annual Benalla ram sale on Tuesday, August 9.
The group’s new president Simon Riddle, Toland Merinos, Violet Town, said the members had proven over the years that they could provide quality rams, bred for, but not limited to, north-east Victoria’s conditions.
Seven studs are participating in this year’s sale, with 41 lots to be offered, including 15 Merinos and 26 Poll Merino rams.
Bindawarra will participate in the sale for the first time. The Harrison family purchased the stud in 2011 and relocated it from the north-east to Giffard West in Gippsland, but they have maintained a connection to the north-east.
Another thing that sets this multivendor sale apart is the continued ‘All Purpose’ judging of the sale rams, which has been going for at least 10 years. The rams’ muscle, fat and weight are measured and judges inspect them.
Mr Riddle said he believed it kept the group striving to improve the rams in the direction of the modern, dual-purpose Merino, exhibiting both wool and meat characteristics.
His wife Anna Toland, who has taken over as secretary from Sandra Heal, Wirrate stud, Nagambie, said carcase traits were becoming increasingly important and gave producers more market options.
She said they also helped being able to turn wethers off earlier, which was even more desirable with increasingly variable seasons.
Ms Toland said clients of her family’s stud had been asking for more fat, muscle and growth, not only for meat production but also for fertility and lamb survival.
She said to meet those demands, the stud had done a big artificial insemination program targeted at boosting those traits.
Matthew Ipsen, Cahirblonig Merino stud, Wareek, will do the wool judging, and Simon Beattie, Derrynock Poll Dorsets, Trentham East, will do the carcase/meat trait judging.
Considering the plentiful rainfall to date, Ms Toland said she expected the sale rams to be doing very well.
Teams from the participating studs are looking forward to welcoming the repeat clients who return to the sale each year, as well as new faces.
“The North East Merinos Breeders’ sale is one of the last multivendor sales before studs’ on-property sales,” she said, adding group member Alan Harris, Koole Vale stud, would host his first such sale at the Costerfield property on October 12.
Ken Heal said the family’s Wirrate Merino and Poll Merino stud, Nagambie, had sold rams at the North East Merinos Breeders sale since its inception.
He said each year, the rams that were offered for sale were all bred in the north-east Victorian environment and that was an important factor that people should consider.
“You don’t need to travel miles and miles or in some cases days, quality rams are available right here in the north-east,” Mr Heal said.
