DEEPWATER stud may have been celebrating its 40th anniversary of breeding Border Leicesters, but it was the buyers at its 20th annual ram sale at Binnum on Wednesday last week who received the gifts in the form of value-for-money rams.
The whole offering were tagged as $uperBorder$ and stacked- up well against the best in the breed for growth, fertility, milk and wool, but 41 rams sold at the $600 base price.
In the breakdown the Dowdy family sold 121 of 148 July-August 2012 drop high-performance rams for a $740 average - down nearly $100 on the 2012 sale result.
It was clear from the onset that many buyers had similar top-end budgets, with bids quickly received in the $800 to $900 bracket, but it was a struggle to push past $1000.
Just 15 rams made four figures.
Victorian Neil Langley, Nangkita, Coleraine, paid the $1400 top among his three purchases.
A buyer at Deepwater for four years, he produces about 450 first-cross ewes which he sells on-farm each year.
"All of the sheep are very even so it came down to choosing ones with the best figures," Neil said.
The sale-topper was a son of Inverbrackie 8012 and had many figures in the top 10 per cent of the breed, including a post-weaning weight rating of 9, eye muscle depth of 0.9 and number of lambs weaned figure of 12.6pc. Its maternal index was one of the highest in the catalogue at 128.9.
The sale rams had an average maternal index of 119.9, well above the assessed breed average for the 2012-drop of 113.8.
Despite a tight autumn and return to wet winter conditions in the area, the rams were presented in good order.
There was exceptional evenness from the first to last pens and buyers appreciated the trueness to type.
GB&RE Hage, Naracoorte, were the biggest buyers with 16 rams to $750 twice, averaging $647.
First-time Deepwater buyers RH&PS Stark, Naracoorte, bought 10 rams for a $920 average, and RJ&ED Sanders, Tintinara, took the same number for a $805 average.
*Full report in Stock Journal, October 24 issue, 2013.