A good sale clearance of 66 rams sold from 72 offered was achieved at the Melashdan White Dorper and Dorper sale at Tumby Bay last week.
The Fiegerts also improved their sale average to $1192 - a $282 increase on last year's sale, where only 49 rams from 71 offered sold to $1700, averaging $910.
All 38 White Dorper rams offered sold to a top of $3000, averaging $1402, while the 28 Dorper rams sold to $1500, averaging $910.
A good crowd of mainly locals attended the sale, with 30 new and return clients registering for the sale, while online through AuctionPlus another 24 guest viewers from four states tuned in, buying six through the platform.
For the past three years, Melashdan has employed the services of Dorper Sheep Society of Australia classer Wicus Cronje, with positive results.
The Melashdan sale catalogue included 11 White Dorper rams in the top 5 per cent for Maternal Carcase Production and 25 Dorper and White Dorper rams in the top 10pc for traits, including maternal weaning weight, weaning weight, post-weaning weight, post-weaning eye muscle depth and Maternal Carcase Production - which represents traits for growth and reproduction - in Sheep Genetics for the shedding breeds.
While most of the Fiegerts' northern client's ram requirements were reduced due to low ewe numbers and the ongoing dry, most rams this year went south to local return clients, while four new buyers ended up with rams.
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Last year's top price ram buyer Bill Herde, Rudall, again bought the top price White Dorper ram this year at lot 7 for $3000 - very high indexing twin ram in the top 5pc for WWT, PWWT, MCP and top 30pc for EMD and MWWT.
Sire by Burrawang 151216, the April 2019-drop weighed 89 kilograms on August 29 and had Lambplan figures of 2.26MWWT, 8.7WWT, 13.6PWWT, -0.3Pfat, 1.8PEMD, 4.7NLW and 147MCP.
The $1500 top price Dorper at lot 19 sold to DSF Trans, Port Lincoln.
Sire by Kaya 140655, the January 2019-drop weighed 93 kilograms on August 29 and had Lambplan figures of 2.49MWWT, 4.9WWT, 8.3PWWT, 0.1Pfat, 1.8PEMD, -0.9NLW and 136MCP.
Volume buyers included G Baker, Kondoolka Station, Gawler Ranges, who purchased 10 Dorper and White Dorper rams and P&T Claughton, Port Lincoln, who purchased 10 White Dorpers.
The sale was conducted by Nutrien Tumby Bay.
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