REPEAT clients Yarrah Nominees kept the competition hot at the Greenfields ram sale at its Booborowie shearing shed on Monday, taking both top price Merino and Poll Merino rams.
The sale top price of $10,200 was reached for Lot 5, a Poll Merino ram, with Eddie Burge, Yarrah Nominees, saying they were chasing both good wools and good framed sheep - exactly what this ram had to offer.
Sired by Ajax (Greenfields Oscar), the 21.5-micron ram had fleece with 3.5 standard deviation, 17.3 coefficient variation, comfort factor of 98.9 per cent and greasy fleece weight of 116pc.
"We are looking at the whole frame of the sheep and very soft handling wools," Mr Burge said.
The family have bought from Greenfields for more than 30 years and said their rams supported the self-replacing Merino flock they run.
The Burge family runs about 2000 ewes at their Ceduna property and 5000-6000 at Siam Station in the Gawler Ranges (about 50 kilometres from Iron Knob).
Mr Burge's top Merino ram at Lot 36 cost him $8200, in what was another competitive sale.
Sired by Lofty, the hefty 134kg ram had a greasy fleece weight of 112pc, 98.6CF, 22.1M, 3.5SD and 16.6CV.
Volume buyers included MA&LA O'Connor, Nundooka Station, Broken Hill, NSW, who purchased 29 rams to a top of $1800, averaging $1027, via Paul Cousins, Burra.
Other volume buyers included South Gum Creek Partnership, Burra, which took home 15 rams to $2200, averaging $1706, while G&A Turner, Grassmere Station, via Broken Hill, bought 14 to $2100, averaging $1450.
Bidding for both G&A Turner family and the O'Connors, Mr Cousins said following good rain they were looking for rams to restock their paddocks.
Both are repeat buyers of Greenfield rams.
"They are looking for a good constitution sheep and trying to improve their wools. They got a good line today," Mr Cousins said.
Rams purchased will make their way up to the stations in November and December.
"It's that green up there it won't take much for these rams to acclimatise," Mr Cousins said.
The sale had 36 buyers register and the rams purchased will spread throughout SA from Naracoorte to Ceduna and interstate to stations in NSW.
In the main auction, 72 Poll Merinos sold in a total clearance to $10,200, averaging $2144, while all 48 Merino rams offered sold to $8200, averaging $2457.
In the mini auction, 25 Poll Merino rams sold to $1700, averaging $1040, and 16 Merino rams sold to $2100, averaging $1212.
Coming off the back of a successful week at the Royal Adelaide Show, Greenfields principals James and brother Robert Sullivan were pleased with the outcome of Monday's sale.
Robert said they had a number of repeat buyers, but also a couple of new names among the registrations.
"We had a few buyers that couldn't get here today, but it gave our regulars an opportunity to get some good valued rams in the auction," he said. "It's been a tough start for us with a very dry six months, but the season has turned around now."
Riding on the success of the Royal Show, Robert said it had been a big couple of weeks.
"It's pleasing to get good results at Adelaide and then follow it up at our on-property sale here today," he said.
RELATED READING:
The sale was conducted by Elders and Nutrien Ag and interfaced through AuctionsPlus.
Sale auctioneers were Nutrien's Gordon Wood and Elders' Tony Wetherall - both agreed there were rams for all budgets at the sale.
Mr Wood said from the top price ram to the buyers who were looking to up their numbers after a few bad years, it was a sale presenting an opportunity for all.
"It's a really solid result for the 25th year," he said.
"They are big, robust, uncomplicated wool producing Merino and Poll Merino rams."
Mr Wetherall said it was a very solid sale right throughout the line-up.
"I would say Greenfields have a good strong stud and commercial following across the state," he said.
"They are a really good dual-purpose, modern Merino."
