IN ITS seventh annual on-property ram sale held at Myponga on Tuesday last week, Wattle Wood Springs Suffolk stud was rewarded for its heavy focus on carcase with an impressive $500 lift in top price and a $90 increase in average from the 2017 sale.
The final tally saw 20 of 23 June/July 2017-drop Suffolk rams sold to $1700, averaging $1013.
The sale-topping price of $1700 was paid for lot 5, an outstanding 14-month-old ram sired by Pine Ridge 191850. The clear standout of the catalogue for Lambplan carcase figures, the ram boasted a hefty 8.8 for weaning weight, 13 for post-weaning weight, and a Carcase Plus index of 169.3. Buyer Tim Nelder, Tanunda, bid with the utmost confidence after recently selling Wattle Wood Springs-blood lambs for an average of $194 at just five months of age.
Also sired by the Pine Ridge 191850 ram, lot 3 fetched the second-highest price of the sale at $1600. Posting a Carcase Plus index of 163.5, 8.5WWT and 12.3PWWT, the late June 2017-drop ram was secured by repeat buyer Matt Nelder, Tanunda.
No stranger to the Wattle Wood Springs program, Ashleigh Bates, Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island was the volume buyer of the sale, securing eight rams averaging $918.
The remaining rams went to repeat clients from the Barossa Valley and Kangaroo Island.
Stud principal Garry Gum said he was pleased to have offered a very even selection of rams in the sale.
“We have put a strong emphasis on breeding ewes that convert feed into growth of muscle regardless of their pedigrees,” Mr Gum said.
“This has been evidenced by a lot more thickness in the rams and good growth rates.”
Elders conducted the sale with Elders Jamestown’s Scott Fleetwood the auctioneer.
