*261 of 290 sold to a top of $20,000, av $3675
Hamilton’s Sheepvention had double the reason to celebrate its 40th anniversary, with the pen of five ram sale hitting a record $3675 average.
Of 290 Merino, Corriedale and Prime SAMM rams offered, 261 sold, recording a 90 per cent clearance rate.
It was Geoff and Bernadette Davidson’s Moorundie Poll Merino stud, Keith, SA, that sold the sale topper at the nation’s largest multi-vendor sale, a result they secured for the third year in a row.
Lot 95 caught the eye of the Allen family, Warrawee Park, and Kym and Chad Makin, Makin Nominees, both from Keith, SA, who paid $20,000.
They will share possession of the 16 month-old, whose fleece measured 18.3 micron, 3.1 standard deviation (SD), 16.9 co-efficient of variation (CV), and 99.4pc comfort factor (CF).
Mr Davidson described the sale topper as a “modern Merino”.
“He has a lot of wool on a plain body and he carries a bit of fat which we think is important in breeding ewes, and he has very good feet and structure,” Mr Davidson said.
“That added up to him being a safe ram for the buyers to breed rams from.”
The Allens and Makins were impressed by the ram’s dual purpose attributes.
“He has very, very good wool for the wool market today and also very good meat on a strong body,” Michael Allen said.
Moorundie sold three of the 10 five-figured rams.
Read more:
It was a ram by Poll Boonoke and Wanganella stud, Deniliquin, NSW, that hit the second top price of the sale, selling for $16,000.
It was bought by a syndicate of Coryule Merino stud, Willowvale, Wirrinourt Merino stud, Willaura, and Mitre Rock Poll Merino stud, Nurcoung.
It was the first time the syndicate had bought from Poll Boonoke and Wanganella, but wool classer Bill Mildren was no stranger to the stud’s genetics.
Mr Mildren said the ram, Lot 100, had the right wool, skin and conformation to suit its buyers’ flocks.
The ram’s fleece measured 19.7 micron, 3.0 SD, 15.2 CV, and 99.8pc CF.
He said the ram would be sent to an artificial insemination centre, and be shared amongst the properties for joining in October.
The first sons of Gunallo 150460 sold at auction gave the Schroeder family, Pinnaroo, SA, its best result in at least 15 years as vendors.
Stewart and Gavin Brophy, Tintinara, SA, took home two, one at $11,000 and the other at $10,000, while Hynam Poll Merinos, Longwood, bought one for $10,500.
Elders auctioneer Ross Milne said it was a great result to lift the average and have such a good clearance, with strong local demand from within a 150 to 200 kilometre radius.
“There is a lot of confidence in wool now, especially those guys set up in that sort of way, and they are investing their returns back into their genetics,” Mr Milne said.
“Most vendors would be pretty happy with what they have achieved with their sale prices and the number of people looking over their sheep in the past two days.”