A PAIR of two-year-old rams made the equal top price at the annual Wurrook Merino ram sale last week, with more buyers in attendance than the stud expected.
Wurrook stud principal Paul Walton said he was relieved with the result, despite it being down on last year's sale.
"It was always going to be back on last year, but I'm glad people came along," Mr Walton said.
In 2022, the stud sold 112 of the 116 rams offered, selling twice to $12,500, and achieved an average of $3388, whereas this year they reached a top of $8000 twice and cleared 90 of 108 rams to average $2369.
"We don't necessarily worry about the average year to year, the main thing for us is that the same faces keep coming back," Mr Walton said.
"When conditions are good we have a better sale but it doesn't matter as long as people come along and take the rams to keep their breeding flocks up."
Lot 3 was purchased by Catherine and Gerrard Lamaro, Barwon Leigh, Inverleigh, and Lot 5 was bought by Derek and Trish Brody, Netley, Balmoral, for the equal $8000 top price of the sale.
Lot 3 was a polled ram sired by RP Poll 043, and its 15.6-micron fleece measured a comfort factor (CF) of 99.7 per cent and a standard deviation (SD) of 2.6.
Ms Lamaro said she didn't pay close attention to the data, and her main focus was whether the rams could stand well.
"Data's the last thing I look at, you've got to look at the animal from the feet up," she said.
The Lamaros also bought Lot 11 for $2000 at the sale, which had an SD of 2.9 and a micron of 18.4.
She said her family had been buying rams from Wurrook for at least three generations, with her great-grandfather buying from them decades ago.
Lot 5 was similarly bought by a long-time client of Wurrook.
Mr Brody said his family had been buying from the stud since at least 1991 and their genetics always did well among his flock.
Lot 5 measured a fleece micron of 17.8, an SD of 2.9 and a CF of 99.9pc.
They also purchased Lot 4, Lot 10, and Lot 43 for a total of $17,500.
Mr Brody said they weren't looking for a particular dataset, however they wanted a big-barrelled ram, with a free-growing fleece to put over maiden ewes.
Nutrien stud stock agent Peter Godbolt said the Wurrook ram sale returned a good result among current market conditions.
Mr Godbolt said it was good to see some new faces in the crowd.
Holly McGuinness
Holly is a journalist for Australian Community Media, covering South Coast, NSW. As a born and bred Shoalhaven local, she's passionate about covering community concerns and amplifying local voices. To get in contact, email holly.mcguinness@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
Holly is a journalist for Australian Community Media, covering South Coast, NSW. As a born and bred Shoalhaven local, she's passionate about covering community concerns and amplifying local voices. To get in contact, email holly.mcguinness@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
