THE 2014 Orrie Cowie ram sale at Warooka will go down as the Dalla family's best for at least a decade.
In a predominantly Poll Merino offering, the prices received were aligned to the sale's outstanding depth of quality.
The offering of the Dalla family's Redwood White Suffolk and Poll Dorset rams followed the Merino sale and topped-off an outstanding sale day.
Orrie Cowie offered 167 Merino and Poll Merino rams, of which 81 per cent were Poll Merinos, in line with sheep industry trends and demand.
In a perfect lead-up to the sale, Orrie Cowie won the Crystal Brook championship with OC Titan and this ram will represent SA at the Australian Ram of the Year judging at Dubbo, NSW, later this month, after also being a big winner in Sydney early this year.
A run of 12 August-shorn 22-month-old Poll Merino rams started the sale and sold for $3000 or more. Five sold for more than $5000, including the sale's top price of $11,000, averaging $5221.
This strength flowed onto the rest of the sale and by the end. 137 Poll Merino and Merino rams cleared at a $1834 average.
Long-time Orrie Cowie regular local buyers David and Gavin Reade, Curramulka, bought the sale-topper OC 127537, sired by top sire Prince 603. This big plain-bodied and structurally sound ram carried a heavy and free-growing 21.2-micron fleece.
Underbidder to the Reades for the second year in a row was David Kelly, Wongan Hills, Bindon, WA. He was also underbidder two lots earlier on OC 32130, an OC Flinders son with similar attributes. This ram went to Orrie Cowie regular buyers for well over 20 years, Stan and Dorothy Kupsch, Geraldton, WA. They bid $9250 - the sale's second-top price - before winning the bidding duel.
It was locals CA&MA Murdoch through Elders Minlaton who kicked off the sale on a strong note and set the scene for what was to follow by bidding the sale's third-top price of $7000 for OC 127591. This ram was another Prince son that was in the championship-winning Sydney group of three rams and two ewes for the Otway Falkiner Perpetual Cup, along with Titan.
Robert and Braden Lange, Meltrac Enterprises through Elders Narrogin, WA, chimed in to pick up OC 127609, a paternal brother to Titan, for $4000 in good-value buying, especially in this run.
T&B Bolwell through Elders Kojanup paid $5000 for another paternal brother and son of Regal 056 in the top draft of March-shorn 15-month rams that followed this initial run. K Norman, Ravensthorpe, took three rams to $1000 to round-out the WA buying.
Kangaroo Island buyers were prominent, nine buying 56 rams.
Elders Finance officer and ex-KI representative Craig Eckert bid $5000 for OC 127950, an Exceller poll ram for Ron Cox, this line renowned for its white and well-defined wools. David and Nell Hall bought OC 127625 at $3600 - another paternal brother to Titan. They later added a Flinders son at $1600 from the younger draft, plus three White Suffolk rams.
The KI buyers included three of the top four volume buyers. Robert Hams operated at the great-value end of the sale, taking five Poll Merinos and eight Merinos from $600 to $700 to be the biggest volume buyer of the Orrie Cowie rams.
* Full report in Stock Journal, August 21, 2014 issue.