RAMS with a tremendous balance of meat and wool qualities sold into a big geographical area at Mt Alma Dohne Merinos' annual auction at Coonalpyn on Wednesday.
And while the average was back $309 on an exceptional 2021 sale, Eric, Sophie, Ike and Carolyn Ashby still held the benchmark SA Dohne sale for the season.
In a full clearance their 103 May 2021 drops averaged $2769.
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Two Broken Hill pastoralists underpinned the sale's success securing well over a third of the catalogue between them but the paddock run rams also sold to 23 other buyers from the Lower South East of SA and as far away as Colac.
Luke and Sarah Mashford, Katalpa Station often went head to head on many lots with Matt and Sara Jackson, Tirlta Station, who were bidding on AuctionsPlus.
The Mashfords secured 15 rams to $3600 averaging $2727, while the Jacksons took home 26 rams for a $2562 average.
Mr Mashford said they had been running a self-replacing Dohne flock for many years and had been impressed with the breed's "doing ability and "fantastic lambing percentages", often in trying conditions.
Their seasonal fortunes have finally turned around receiving well over 200mm for the year so far.
The highest indexing rams were particularly well sought after in the catalogue, including lot 14, ASH210439, which made the $7200 top price.
The 120 kilogram ram had a Dohne Plus index of 163.9, including a weaning weight of 7.4.
It had a top quality fleece - 18.9 micron with a standard deviation of 3.6, coefficient of variation of 19.2 and comfort factor of 99.2pc, along with an eye muscle depth of 43.5mm and fat depth of 7.5mm.
The successful buyer was SK&BJ Murdoch, Warooka, who also secured lot 5 for $3200.
The sale's second highest price ram at $6000 was lot 9 which sold to Sholto and Mitchell Douglas, Corlas Pastoral, Western Flat.
The 18.3M ram had a Dohne Plus Index of 163.6.
The Ashbys continued their generous tradition of donating the proceeds from lot 1 in their annual sale to charity.
This year the beneficiaries of the 110kg ram were the Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Epilepsy Society who shared the $3600.
The charity ram was bought by S&R DiGiorgio, Lucindale who put together six rams for a $3033 average.
Elders district wool manager Steph Brooker-Jones was another volume buyer securing eight lots averaging $2163 for James and Georgie McKay, Egremont Pastoral Company, Lucindale.
Eric Ashby said auctions were always "nerve wracking" but it was an "exceptional result".
"We are really grateful to our clients, we put a lot of passion into it so it is great for it to be a success and that people are happy with the rams," he said.
"There are some really big lambing percentages and one of our clients has been runner-up a couple of times in the JBS Producer of the Year awards so they are covering all the bases."
Eric was particularly pleased with the 2022 line-up and how the wools had stood up after a wet few months.
"We target sheep that can go to any environment, anything in our auction we want to make sure their wool quality is suited to high rainfall areas and their feet can handle dry conditions or wet country" he said.
"They have done it off pasture and done it in the paddock."
Nutrien stud stock auctioneer Richard Miller commended the Ashbys on their very consistent offering. He said the rams were about five kilograms heavier than 2021, the majority 100-120kg.
"The data on the rams was consistent all the way through, these wools are some of the smartest Dohne wools going around and structurally they are perfect," he said.
He noted that rams in the final ten lots were reaching similar prices to the final few lots.
"There was still plenty of sting in the sale right at the end so had they had another 20 to 30 rams they would have sold them no worries," he said.
Elders auctioneer Steve Doecke said it was a strong sale with buyers appreciating the dual purpose genetics and bare breeches on the rams.
"They are breeding a muscle sheep with good wool on them, that's why they get so much competition because the sheep breed so well," he said.
"It was still an opportunity for everyone to buy sheep and everyone that came to purchase did buy something."
