A large crowd headed to Bendigo on a sparkling, sunny day to watch the sale of over Border Leicester/Merino-cross ewes at the 2022 annual Premier Blue Ribbon First Cross Ewe Sale.
Agents yarded a little more than 23,500 Border Leicester/Merino-cross ewes, with 22,446 sold all up for a total of $6.1 million in sales on Friday.
While not at the record high prices of recent sales, agents deemed the day a success, with ewes presenting well despite recent wet weather across Victoria.
Livestock director at McKean McGregor Alex Collins said he was very impressed with the size of the crowd and the level of inquiry.
"'This was one of the bigger crowds I have seen at any sheep sale, and we were reasonably happy with the top end of the one-and-a-half year old and one-year-old ewes," he said.
"I thought they sold somewhere near expectations on the whole."
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Mr Collins said the one-year-old ewes sold in the second half of the sale kept up with the first half of the sale and had been bought up well from buyers.
"When we got into the ewe lambs... they may have been a fraction under expectation, but then there was a very solid base from around $300-$330 a head for all your joinable ewe lambs," he said.
As the sale got into the younger ewes lots sold from $270-$300, while the tail end drafts sold between $200 to $230.
Mr Collins said it a monumental effort from producers to present their ewes despite them dealing with immense flooding and wet weather, partly affecting the smaller yarding.
Buyers from the south Victorian and Gippsland region were prominent but local interest also bought up lots too.
Ian Rathjen, Colbinabbin, topped the sale with 96 September shorn July/August drop ewes weighing an average of 80 kilograms.
He received the James Cartwright Memorial award for his ewes, which sold for $440.
"It is a bit overwhelming really," he said.
"The sheep we were selling were good shape but I didn't expect to get the top price."
It was the first time he had sold at a first cross ewe sale, which Mr Rathjen said topped off an exceptional year for his operation.
"We've had an abundance of feed this year so we haven't had any problems with that," he said.
"[We were able to] get them shorn about eight weeks ago before all the rush was on and picked a very good shearer in Chris Mackerel who polished them up for us, which makes a difference I believe.
"We were really lucky to get shearers, but I like to call it good planning... and we just like our sheep and tend to look after them probably better than they need to be looked after sometimes."
Seasonally, things have looked good for Mr Rathjan too.
"We're fortunate that we're on the side of the hill, so we haven't had a lot of trouble with the wet other than the fact that it's been difficult to get jobs done in perfect time," he said.
"We've just had to make the most of the dry weather we get, and fortunately enough, we put a roof over our yards two years ago and that's helped us get a lot of work done and sheep in good shape during the wet weather."
The best presented pen awarded by the Australian Border Leicester Association went to the Collins family, North Bridgewater and was the first pen sold at the sale.
They sold 141 October shorn ewes, which were 13-14 months old, and weighing 84kg for $420.
David Collins said the operation were very pleased with how the sheep presented.
"It was a very good season at Bridgewater once again, and we had a good early break which was the case in the last few years too," he said.
"We use lambing on a green feed, so we were very happy with how things turned out."
The Collins family also sold the top pen of ewe lambs, selling a pen of 140 6-7month old ewes, 63kg, for $375.
Mr Collins said there was a "fair bit of water" going through the property recently, but had been very lucky.
"We're not far from the Loddon River and we've got water from the Bullock Creek near us too, but it's been pretty okay and lucky for us as it gets off reasonably quickly," he said.
"These floods for us weren't quite the devastation of the 2011 [floods] but we did still have a lot of water flowing and it was a little tough on the stock as well."
JH Hay & Son sold 182 18-19 month old ewes, 82kg for $400 and another pen of 170 17-18 month old ewes, 74kg for $380.
KP & PL Kelly sold 222 17-18 month old ewes, 72kg, for $368.
Monmore sold 108 17-18 month old ewes, 72kg, for $410.
J & L Cartwright sold 109 12-13 month old ewes, 66kg, for $350.
R & N Broom sold 121 12-13 month old ewes, 60kg, for $380.
AD & TL Cole sold 131 5-6 month old ewes, 49kg, for $343.