Vortex White Suffolk & Charollais, Goorambat, sell 'as expected'

Vortex White Suffolk & Charollais stud principal Daniel Hooper, Goorambat, said the ram sale went as expected and he was pleased with picking up more volume buyers.

"There's a lot of doom and gloom about the sheep job at the moment but ram sales have been good, I'm happy with it and it went as expected," he said.

"The Charollais were red hot with a lot of competition with buyers, and buyers taking fairly good numbers there."

The sale had 98 of 126 rams in total sell to $2000, with an average price of $1154.

The White Suffolk rams had 46 lots sell to $2000, with an average price of $1001, while 52 Charollais rams sold to $1950 twice, with an average price of $1289.

Mr Hooper said the inquires prior to the sale had buyers showing an interest in new genetics.

"They have their eyes and ears open for good stock," he said.

"We've lost a few volume buyers that had retired, or gone into more of a cropping phase, they've given that job away but it opens the door for other people to come in and buy volume, which is what has happened and it's good to see new buyers."

He said they hadn't sold the number of White Suffolks they'd hoped, but it was similar to the 2022 sale.

"I think the lamb market has been held down by last season's lambs coming in, there's still fairly large numbers coming on the market and once that stops we might see a bit of a shortage," Mr Hooper said.

"People will finish their lambs either on time or earlier.

"I think the same thing that caused the flood of the market will cause a shortage of lambs later on and bring ram confidence back in."

The top lots included the White Suffolk top ram, Lot 2, 012, and Charollais top rams Lot 50, CH395TW, and Lot 56, CH459TW.

Lot 2's Australian Sheep Breeding Values included a post-weaning weight of 17.67 kilograms, a birth weight of .41kg, a post-weaning fat of -0.62 millimetres, post-weaning eye muscle depth of 2.2mm, and it weighed 119kg.

Lot 50 had a post-weaning weight of 11.14 kilograms, a birth weight of 0.18kg, a post-weaning fat of -1.04 millimetres, post-weaning eye muscle depth of 0.43mm, and it weighed 90kg.

Lot 56 had a post-weaning weight of 13.38 kilograms, a birth weight of 0.32kg, a post-weaning fat of -1.29 millimetres, post-weaning eye muscle depth of 0.18mm, and it weighed 104.5kg.

"Lot 2 was probably the best ram in the sale, Bryan Stannard rang up looking for a stud ram and his figures are good, he's a good-quality, heavy ram, he's well put together and Bryan was willing to pay stud money for him," Mr Hooper said.

"Lot 50, I'm not surprised about him, he was a real tank of a sheep, really good muscle, really good type, he'd make a good stud ram."

White Suffolk top buyer Mr Stannard, Tallygaroopna, manages about 50 White Suffolks, crossbred sheep and Dorpers, and hoped to buy a stud ram for his flock.

"Looking for length and something to stand up off the ground a bit, his figures aren't too bad - not that I know much about figures," he said.

"I'm 64, getting a bit too old so I'm going to cut back on what I've got, the rams at home I bought two years ago and it was time for a new bloodline."

Rodwells Euroa auctioneer Ryan Carpenter said there had been strong local competition, but volume buyers coming across from Bendigo, western Victoria, northern New South Wales and Tasmania.

"There was a fair bit of interest there for the Charollais, right through the back end, the top end sold really well, there would've been about seven or eight registered bidders going," he said.

"We passed in a few but we were chuffed with the result in the top and middle end.

"The White Suffolks held up alright, competition was stronger for the Charollais and the quality is renowned in the area."

Leslie Lawrence, Invergordon, and Chartwell Farms, Kilmore, bought the two top-priced Charollais rams.

Volume buyer Clayton Mackley, Pomonal, bought seven Charollais rams to join his commercial lamb flock.

"We wanted some rams for our maiden Merino ewes, we've got two properties," he said.

"We came after the sale last year and bought a few, and they've gone really well.

"Easy lambing is the main thing, and still being able to have a product at the end to sell, we've just weaned our lambs from last year and they have plenty of weight about them."