IT HAS been a difficult few months for Sohnic Merinos at Marnoo East, but the stud was rewarded with a total clearance of rams at its recent sale.
Sohnic stud principal Scott Nicholson said he had been wary when making decisions this year, considering the state of the sheep market.
"The lamb and mutton markets in particular have just taken a turn for the worst, and people's mindsets around that haven't always been solid," he said.
"People are just a little bit cautious about the job and a little bit worried about the future at the moment."
Mr Nicholson was pleased with regular buyers coming back despite a drop from last year's average price of $2461 to $1996.
"It shows that people are prepared to invest in the future of breeding Merinos regardless of where the markets are," he said.
"Hopefully, those people who stick with it now get rewarded.
"I've got a set clientele now... and every now and then, one of those clients will bring somebody else with them and that's what makes it quite successful for us through word of mouth without having to do a lot of events or shows."
The top-priced ram sold was Lot 10, Sohnic 221056, which made $4500 to Janmac Pastoral, Goroke, a new buyer at Sohnic.
The ram weighed 101 kilograms and its fleece measured 20.2 micron, with a coefficient variant of 17.8, and a standard deviation of 3.6.
The ram also recorded a yearling clean fleece weight of 19.46kg and a post-weaning weight of 4.35kg.
Grant Hausler, Janmac Pastoral, said he liked the ram's early growth and shape, and his March weight of 96kg was a deciding factor.
"We like early growth in rams and it's covered up by a very-good fleece of wool," Mr Hausler said.
"We're chasing high muscle and high fat in our sheep, and we have a terminal sire operation at Janmac and follow the meat sheep market pretty closely.
"We always look for sheep from that carcase point of view."
Mr Hausler was one of many volume buyers on the day, and purchased two more rams at the sale, which he said displayed "great structure".
"It's our first time here, and we figured if you're coming along for the first time you should go for the top end," he said.
The biggest volume buyer of the day in terms of amount spent was S & K Webb, Grass Flat, who spent more than $18,000 across seven lots bought, while Hazelwood Nominees, Watchem, bought the most lots, with eight rams purchased for about $11,000 overall.
A couple of prominent buyers also came from interstate, including Paramount Pastoral, Broken Hill, NSW, who bought seven rams for just under $11,000, and Innisfallen Farms, Bordertown, SA, who bought four rams for about $10,000.
