- 188 0f 189 White Suffolk rams sold to $34,000, av $2566
A central Victoria White Suffolk stud has joined the ranks of studs that have sold some of Australia's most expensive meat sheep rams.
Shane Baker, Booloola, Baringhup, sold his top-priced ram for $34,000, to South Australian stud Elton Downs, Karoonda, SA.
The price easily eclipsed the $32,000, paid for a White Suffolk at South Australian stud Wingamin, Karoonda, last September.
And it surpassed the price of $29,500, the highest price paid in 2020, for a ram from Ida Vale, Boscabel, Western Australia. The current record for a top-priced ram, set in 2016, is $68,000 and is held by Anden, Woomelang.
Mr Baker said he was "blown away" by the sale.
"The ram is so correct," Mr Baker said.
"It's not very often you see thickness and depth like he had, with beautifully smooth shoulders and his dam line is pretty strong," Mr Baker said.
"His mother's mother's sister are probably two of the most influential ewes in our system at the moment -I think the powerful pedigree helped as well."
Mr Baker said he had been used as a ram lamb, as he was "very relevant to the industry."
Booloola sold 18 of its specially selected rams for an average of $6238, with 170 of 171 flock rams topping at $3600 and averaging $2177.
The second top priced ram was bought by Cheetara and Stockdale, Narambeen and York, WA, for $15,000.
Lot 10, Booloola 210024, was sired by Ashmore 190016 out of Booloola 230403-2018-180014
The May 2021-drop ram was a single and weighed 130 kilograms.
He had a birthweight of 0.19kg, a weaning weight of 10.7kg, a post-weaning weight of 17.7kg and intramuscular fat of 0.00.
The ram's post-weaning fat measurement was 0.9 millimetres, his post-weaning eye muscle depth was 3.8mm and he had a shear force 5 of -1.22.
His lean meat yield was 2.37 per cent and his terminal carcase production index was 154.1.
He was in the top five for TCP and top 10 pc for PWT, PEMD and IMF.
Elton Downs, Karoonda, SA, stud principal Chris Rudiger said he was impressed with the overall amount of meat the ram was carrying.
"He's a super, super thick ram with a lot of rib capacity.
"For a ram who is as meaty and heavy as he is, he is agile on this feet.
"He is a nice White Suffolk type and has a good set of data."
While Elton Downs was drier than Baringhup, the ram had good positive fat and appeared to have "good doing ability", Mr Rudiger said.
"I don't think the conditions will be too much of a struggle, for him."
The ram would be able to be joined to any type of ewe and get good results, he said.
'We might do a ewe lamb AI joining with him," Mr Rudiger said.
Elton Downs would join about 800 ewes in May, next year.
The strength of the sheep and lamb market gave producers the confidence to spend on the best rams available, Mr Rudiger said.
Elders Bendigo livestock manager Nigel Starick said it was Booloola's best sale ever.
"They have finally got some real solid stud competion, in the end three studs bought rams, two in Western Australia and one in South Australia.
"The second top price was $15,000 and the third top-price was $11,000 but most of the rams stayed locally.
"They were all repeat buyers, the job was just solid all the way through, you needed $2000 before you got to lot 150, before you started to come down below that."
He agreed the strength of the lamb market drove the prices.
"The rules haven't changed, you work on 10 lambs to a ram and most people would have averaged around $1800 and $2000 last year on their lambs, so they are prepared to put back money into sires."
"His rams stack up in the showring and the paddock, so people spend the money on good stock."
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
