FAIRBANK
*Total clearance of 55 Southdown rams, 7 Southdown cross rams, 40 White Suffolk rams, and 53 Poll Dorset rams, to a top of $5800, av $1188
IN ITS 13th on-property ram sale, Fairbank sheep stud recorded a total clearance of Southdown, Southdown cross, White Suffolk, and Poll Dorset rams.
The Hagley, Tasmania, stud offered a total of 155 rams, and its 100 per cent clearance rate is up 10 per cent on last year.
The sale recorded an average price of $1188 across all breeds, and reached a top price of $5800, for one of the eight Southdown stud rams.
The ram was purchased by Henry and Damien Cameron, Athlone Poll Dorset and Southdown stud, Penshurst, who are only in their second year of breeding Southdown rams.
“Fairbank has got some of the best Southdown rams going around,” Henry Cameron said.
“The rams are all fairly even, with thick hindquarters and plenty of length.”
They run 200 Southdown ewes, and will join the ram to 50 of them in January.
The ram, Lot 5, recorded figures of 0.35 kilograms birth weight (bwt), 8.8kg weaning weight (wwt), 13.1kg post-weaning weight (pwwt), 1.0 millimetres post-weaning fat (pfat), and 2.1mm post-weaning eye muscle depth (pemd).
Fairbank principal Chris Badcock said the top price is the equal highest price they have ever sold a ram for.
“He’s a good, correct ram, with good figures and good Southdown attributes,” Mr Badock said.
He said all three breeds sold well.
“It was a fantastic sale, all three breeds had a lot of strength and depth in their markets,” he said.
“We didn’t want a big gap between the top and bottom rams, we wanted to offer a consistent lineup.”
Buyers came from Victoria, NSW, Tas, and New Zealand, including volume buyers ‘Markarna Park’, Flinders Island, who bought 12 Poll Dorsets, and ‘Benham’, Tas, who bought 10 White Suffolks and Southdowns.