A TWENTY-ONE year old shearer, has stolen the show and topped this year’s annual Border Leicester sale at Horsham.
Will Schilling from Glenlee Park, in his first attempt at showing and selling, sold the ram for $11,000 to Jeff Sutton from Wattle Farm, Temora, NSW.
An elated Mr Schilling who formed his stud eight years ago, said he’d come very close to “throwing it in,” when he was only getting $50 for his rams at Wycheproof.
In what is even more remarkable Mr Schilling almost sold the ram as flock ram for $1200 a few months earlier.
But with the encouragement of older wiser Border Leicester members, Mr Schilling decided to hang onto the ram and enter the multivendor sale.
It was clearly a popular result with many congratulating him after the sale.
“The Border Leicester members have been so supportive, and Heather Stoney is a legend,” Mr Shilling said.
In response Ms Stoney, Ellengerin, Inverleigh, was equally complimentary of him and commented that the result was a great example of the benefits of a multivendor sale for smaller participants.
Sale committee president Ian Baker echoed the comments and said the sale had good stud support but admitted it struggled with commercial support largely due to harvest and seasonal conditions.
He said the market expectations may have also played a part in lower buyer registrations.
When Mr Schilling was asked what he planned to do with the unexpected windfall , he suggested a new livestock trailer and an AI program are high on the list.
The presale show was judged by Ian Gilmore, Oberon who sashed Emily and Scott Davidson’s Morton Stud, Lucindale SA ram first.
The ram sired by Jackson 287 ultimately sold for $10,000, the second top of the sale.
Mr Gilmore commented that the ram was a wonderfully balanced sheep, with tremendous loin and great meat.
The ram measured 116 in the Border $ index and he was purchased by M & K Harvey Bordertown.
Other notable sale results included Ian Baker from Geraldine stud selling his Melbourne Show reserve champion for $8500 to Morton stud run by the Davidsons.
Ellingerrin kicked the sale off with the highest priced ewe, sold again to the Morton Stud for $1200 and their top priced ram sold for $8000 to Bauer stud Pine Valley NSW.
Astute judge Ian Gilmore proved that good rams could be found at the other end of the price spectrum buying two rams for $2000 each from Ellingerrin and Morton.
The Jackson Family Moyston capped off a great year, selling a ram for $7500 and four ewes averaging $550.
The sale closed with full clearance of the 6 ewes offered to an average of $650.
The ram side lacked commercial support with 23 of 38 Rams sold to an average of $4239.
The sale was conducted in conjunction by Elders and Landmark with Andrew Sloan and Ross Milne sharing the selling duties.
