PRIOR to the main sale on Friday, Ella Matta stud sold a young White Suffolk ram for an on-property record price of $10,000.
Originally reserved for stud duties, the Heinrich family were reluctant to take the offer from past Ella Matta ram purchaser Anthony Ferguson, Anna Villa stud, Weetulta, who was working in partnership with the Funke family’s Bundara Downs stud at Western Flat.
But the Fergusons were keen after outstanding success with progeny of an Ella Matta ram bought two years ago.
When he saw EM150096 on display out the back of the sale shed, Mr Ferguson couldn’t move on without making a substantial offer.
Besides the balanced structure, great muscling and powerful outlook, the ram’s Lambplan performance ASBVs were outstanding – weaning weight of 11, post-weaning weight of 17.5, eye muscle of +2.3, fat of -0.3, -56 for worm resistance, 160.2 for the new Lamb Eating Quality, in the top 10pc for both intra-muscular fat and shear force and a Carcase Plus index of 215.