Fairbank sheep stud, Hagley, Tasmania, has strong clearance

Fairbank Poll Dorset, White Suffolk and Southdown stud principal Chris Badcock, Hagley, Tas, said they were pleased with their annual ram sale.

"I made the comment a while ago that while things are a bit tough it's a good opportunity to have a look at your genetics and breeding values," he said.

"These are the sort of times where your breeder values can shine through."

He said buyers attended from across Tasmania, mostly in the central and northern regions, with some southern clients and a few stud rams headed to Victoria.

"There were more rams and more choice so I think people were more selective on what they wanted and they were able to get them for quite good value," he said.

"They're facing challenging seasonal conditions too but by them understanding their genetics they were able to give us support which hopefully will get them through this tough time as well."

The sale had 193 of 237 lots overall sell to $3000 three times, with an average price of $1204.

The sale offered 80 Southdown lots and sold 60 to $3000 three times, with an average price of $1276, while the Poll Dorset lots reached total clearance with a top price of $2000 and average price of $1173.

Meanwhile, 46 of 60 White Suffolk lots sold to $2200 twice, with an average price of $1160, and 19 of 21 terminal composites also sold to $2200 twice with an average price of $1316, and eight of 20 Southdown ewes sold to $800 twice, with an average of $650.

The ewes reached total clearance after the sale, as did the terminal composites.

Top buyers included Simon and Kate Thomas from Silk Southdowns with Lot 27, Tania King from Shellal Southdowns with Lot 30, and local stud Billopp Pastoral, with Lot 24.

A Southdown volume buyer was St Peters Pass, with 18 rams, while Fingal Pastoral bought 19 Poll Dorset rams and DT Kenilworth bought 11 White Suffolk rams.

Lot 24, 220856, was sired by FB170821 and a twin.

Its Australian Sheep Breeding Values included a birth weight of 0.18 kilograms, a weaning weight of 8.63kg, a post-weaning weight of 13.72kg, 0.65 millimetres post-weaning fat and 1.28mm post-weaning eye muscle depth.

Lot 27, 220837, was a twin and its ASBVs 0.43kg BWT, 9.39kg WWT, 13.46kg PWWT, -1.18mm PFAT, -0.43mm PEMD, 116.7 eating quality and 121.67 terminal carcase production.

Lot 30, 220840, was also a twin and its ASBVs included 0.37kg BWT, 7.49kg WWT, 11.66kg PWWT, -0.03mm PFAT, 1.33mm PEMD, 122.15 EQ and 125.99 TCP.

"I think those rams certainly had that combination of structure and figures," Mr Badcock said.

"Those rams were in our top group for a reason, we thought a bit of them and we're not surprised they've gone into studs."

He said the top-priced Poll Dorset, Lot 194, also had a strong combination of good growth and breeding values.

The ram sold to Junction Farms.

The Poll Dorset ram was a triplet with its ASBVs including 0.44kg BWT, 11.52kg WWT, 18.04kg PWWT, -0.26mm PFAT, 2.79mm PEMD, 144.2 EQ and 147.89 TCP.

The top-priced White Suffolks were Lot 122, 220567 and Lot 138, 220634.

Lot 122's ASBVs included 0.02kg BWT, 11.03kg WWT, 17.59kg PWWT, -0.06mm PFAT, 4.53mm PEMD, 169.73 EQ and 168.14 TCP.

Lot 138 was a twin, and its ASBVs included 0.28kg BWT, 9.24kg WWT, 13.76kg PWWT, 0.22mm PFAT, 3.29mm PEMD, 149.78 EQ and 151.9 TCP.

Nutrien Tasmania auctioneer Warren Johnston said most rams remained in Tasmania, but the sale went "better than expected".

"Overall it was a fairly pleasing result for our first major sale of the season, it was a pretty good clearance," he said.