*49 of 50 rams sold to $5500 (twice), av $2551
STRONG buying support from across most areas of Victoria saw the annual Kedleston Park on-property sale at Calivil reach a top of $5500 on two occasions and average $2551.
The sale recorded a 98 per cent clearance rate with 49 of 50 rams sold under the hammer, and the remaining ram selling immediately afterwards.
Kedleston Park Merino and Poll Merino stud principal John Humbert said the result was very pleasing.
Mr Humbert said the catalogue of rams was the best he had ever presented.
"I'm more than pleased with the day's sale," he said.
He said a new client, Gadava Farms, Euroa, had put a floor in prices for the mid-range rams.
He said there was also the usual group of buyers who had been with the stud from its outset.
He said the breed figures showed this year's draft of rams was the heaviest offered with good growth rates and good wool figures.
There were just four horned rams this year.
The two rams selling for the top price of $5500 went to the same purchaser - Vearing Nominees, Mooney's Gap, near Ararat.
Nutrien Ag Solutions area wool manager John McGrath, Ararat, said the Vearings had been buying at Kedleston Park for seven years and simply the rams were "doing the job".
The first to make $5500 was Lot 3, a 15-month-old ram with a 16.3-micron fleece, standard deviation (SD) of 2.7 micron, a co-efficient of variation (CV) of 16.6 per cent and comfort factor (CF) of 99.8pc.
The ram was in the top 1 per cent on the Australian Sheep Breeding Values for Merino Production Index at 182 and on the Dual Purpose (DP) index at 169.
The second ram making $5500 was Lot 20, a 14-month-old ram with an 18.2-micron fleece, an SD of 3.0, a CV of 16.5pc and CF of 99.7pc.
The ram was in the top 5pc for yearling clean fleece weight (YCFW) at 29 and DP index of 162.
The Vearings also bought Lot 9 at $4750.
Tourello Estate, Clunes, bought two rams to a top of $5000 it paid for Lot 7, an 18-micron sire with an SD of 2.4, CV of 13.3pc and CF of 99.8pc.
Rowan Saligari, Campbelltown, was the purchaser of Lot 8 at $5000.
Regular volume buyers PW, SJ & MR Hurse, Carisbrook, bought five rams to a top of $3500 and an average of $2700.
The top lot was Lot 29, a 20-month-old ram with a 20.4-micron fleece, an SD of 2.7, a CV of 13.2pc and CF of 99.8pc.
