Mount Alma hits $1836 av

The depth of quality of the paddock-reared rams offered by Ike and Carolyn, Eric and Sophie Ashby translated to strong bidding from the onset to the final lots.

The first 10 lots averaged $2370 but bidding remained strong, with the final 10 rams still averaging $1600. It produced a $61 jump in average on 2013.

A sale high of $3600 was reached twice - the same as the previous year.

The first of these - lot 8 - sold to longtime commercial clients Stuart and Hugh Murdoch, Warooka, who bought six rams in total for a $2500 average.

The 101-kilogram, April 2013-drop was a 17.9-micron ram with yearling wool measurements of 3.8 standard deviation, coefficient of variation of 21.2 per cent and comfort factor of 99.7pc.

It also had good carcase measurements with a yearling eye muscle depth of 37mm and fat depth of 5mm.

At Lot 49 Robin and Mary-Anne Schwartz, Pindari stud, Waterloo, paid the same money for an upstanding 17.4M April 2013-drop ram with 3.4SD, 19.5CV and 99.8CF.

"He has top-quality wool not just figures but also visual and great fleece structure," Mr Schwartz said.

The ram was in the top 10pc of the Dohne $index at 141.4.

The Ashby family continued their generous gesture of donating the proceeds for lot 1 ram to charity.

This year, half the money went to the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the other half to Tintinara Action Club.

The ram was bought by Roger Dowling, Mercunda, Loxton for $2600. He has shorn Mount Alma's rams for many years.

Thirty-three of the 41 registered bidders were successful, with many having volume orders, helping to underpin the sale's success.

They came from a wide geographical spread - Yorke Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, the Fleurieu Peninsula and South East, with two orders from the Western Division of NSW.

The sale's volume buyer was S&R DiGiorgio Trust, Lucindale, 14 rams averaging $1500.

* Full report in Stock Journal, September 11, 2014 issue.