Top Stud Park South Merino ram snapped up by first-time buyers

The Willaura stud recorded a 90 per cent clearance rate with 90 Merino rams of 100 offered sold during the auction to a top price of $13,000 and an average of $2425.

The strong result was well up on last year's top-priced $7500 ram, while the average was $245 higher.

Stud Park South Merinos stud principals Pat and Sarah Millear said they were pleased a handful of new buyers were among those chasing the reputable lots of future sires.

"We thought it was a solid sale and our clients got really good value which is most important," he said.

"It was a buyers' market to an extent and we were extremely happy with all our clients getting the rams they wanted and to get a new client to spend $13,000 on a new sire is very encouraging."

The stud offered 35 polled rams and 65 polled rams at its on-property sale at Edgarley.

The top-priced $13,000 ram, Lot 50, was bought by brothers Andrew and Clifton Tonissen, Balcairn, Branxholme, who run a commercial wool-growing operation of mainly Merino ewes.

"He's bred out of our Kamballie line from Western Australia and his father was a $25,000 purchase privately at Bendigo three years ago," Mr Millear said.

"The ram we sold today was embryo transfer and he's punching out really good staple length with a nice white wool which is really crimpy so I think he's a really modern poll sheep."

Andrew Tonissen said the ram was a "well-balanced sheep with a lot of good features".

His brother, Clifton, said "we liked the wool on him, his good, broad body, good feet and his bright wool".

The pair were first-time buyers to the Willaura stud and run a Fernleigh-blood flock of 7000 ewes and a small stud operation with some rams sold out of the paddock via private treaty.

The top-priced ram, along with a second ram bought by the pair, Lot 13 for $2500, will be joined to a small flock of their stud ewes on April 1 next year.

"We didn't know where to go looking for this sort of wool but eventually we came here," Andrew said.

Lot 50 is a 15-month-old ram and its wool measurements included a micron of 20.9, a standard deviation of 3.4, a coefficient variation of 16.4 and a comfort factor of 98.6 per cent.

Auctioneer and Elders Stud Stock manager for Victoria and the Riverina, Ross Milne, said the result was "very solid".

"I think for commercial woolgrowers and people with self-replacing Merino operations, they got good value here and could still buy rams that were $1000 to $2000 which is very affordable," he said.

"The sale attracted good, strong local support within a radius of 100 to 150 kilometres along with a few new buyers and an increased average on last year."

Among the volume buyers was first-time purchaser Will Burbury, Spring Cottage, Oatlands, Tas, who bought six rams to a top price of $4500 for Lot 61.

Mr Burbury, a commercial woolgrower, said he was attracted to the stud because of its reliable reputation and indicated the rams would be joined in early April to a group of ewes selected from his 4000-head flock.

Rich Avon Pastoral was the largest volume buyer, purchasing 11 rams to $2000.

Among the other volume buyers was Athole Brae Farms which bought six rams to $2000 and RE & JC Marshall who bought eight rams to $5000.

Granit View Farming bought five rams to $4000, while Maka Pty Ltd and Kareewool bought four rams to $4000 and $3250, respectively.

Five rams sold via online platform AuctionsPlus to a top price of $1500.