MELASHDAN stud at Tumby Bay is fast becoming a force in the White Dorper breed, achieving a perfect strike rate at its annual ram sale on September 15 for the second successive year.
A highlight of the Eyre Peninsula stud's cracking fifth sale was selling a ram for the $3000 top price to Ida Vale White Dorper stud, Kojunup, WA.
The Type 5 ram - the highest classification in the breed - was by AI sire Terraweena Loftus 9293, Australia's highest priced White Dorper ram.
The quality had been passed onto his progeny with the ram having a weaning weight of 47 kilograms at 96 days of age and a sale weight of 93 kg.
The July 2013 drop ram also had an eye muscle depth of 42 millimetres and a self- replacing carcase $ index of 126.5.
In the breakdown, Gary and Janice Fiegert offered and sold 50 sound shedding rams for an $1122 average.
This was 10 more than the previous year, but the average was not far from last year's result.
Thirty six of these rams were from new bloodlines, including 18 from the 2013 AI program by two outstanding sires: Terraweena 9293 and Terraweena 7113, both T5 C5 Rams.
Twenty-three registered buyers - including five new buyers - came from Port Lincoln to Port Augusta to Penong and WA.
Among the volume buyers, Penong Station bought six rams for a $1000 average; RS&SP Dickson, Streaky Bay five, av $1120; and Polkinghorne Family Trust, Ceduna, bought five, $960 av.
Stud co-principal Gary Fiegert acknowledged there had been a number of structural faults in the White Dorper breed, but said Melashdan was working hard to breed sheep with good feet.
The stud had also made great progress breeding muscle into the hindquarters of them and offering true clean shedders.
They had not shorn their ewes for the past six years.
"We have been putting in a few more each year. We didn't expect to sell all the rams this year but when it got to the last few people could see the value at $500 each so that was terrific," Mr Fiegert said.
Quality Livestock's Nigel O'Brien said it was a great achievement to have another total clearance and make the first interstate stud sale.
He also praised their use of Lambplan figures which he said would be advantageous for years to come in the push for fast, early growth animals.
"They have a top product and it is getting better all the time. They could be one of the leading White Dorper studs in Australia in the near future," Mr Fiegert said.
The majority of the rams remained on Eyre Peninsula, including a number of pastoral orders.
* Full report in Stock Journal, September 25, 2014 issue.