The first SheepMaster sale at Orrie Cowie, Warooka, was met with strong support from clients spread across the state.
Orrie Cowie who are renowned for their Merino and Poll Merino stud have ventured into SheepMaster genetics to wean out their White Suffolk enterprise.
The top price fetched $16,000 for lot 16 after 44 of 49 sheep offered were sold to an average of $3043.
According to Orrie Cowie stud principal John Dalla lot 16 was a carbon copy of his sire Trojan.
It weighed 62 kilograms and had a fat score of 4.9 and a eye muscle depth of 37.9 despite being an April-2023 drop.
"He was allotted in lot 16 only because he was the first of the younger drop," he said.
"It was just purely an age thing, nothing to do with his quality.
"We wanted to keep him for being a dead ringer of his dad, but I'm sure we'll breed another one.
"We wanted to ensure we put good rams up for our first sale."
He said it was an exceptional sheep and had overall balance.
"He has got beautiful skin on him, a lovely neck extension, length of body, width and depth," he said.
"His feet are perfect, he's got a terrific bone for a young sheep, just as his potential outlook is incredible."
Top price buyer Daniel Parsons, Edillilie, said the genetics stood out on lot 16 despite being a young ram.
"It looked a little bit smaller in the size but it's got a lot of growing to do yet but it's nice and clean," he said.
"It has pretty much shed early in the season and that's where I want to head with the breeding of our ewes."
Volume buyers included Tilbrook Farming, Curramulka, who bought 6 to a top of $4000(2x) and a $3300av, while Holland Park, Minlaton, bought 16 to a top of $3400 and a $2381 av.
Mr Dalla said he appreciated all the buying support and knew the Tilbrook's were new in shedding sheep and were wanting to break up their workload.
"We are building numbers and want more of them, but it's a real tough one trying to build numbers," he said.
"We are really aiming to keep that quality up so we went really hard when we purchased 350 ewes and six rams last year and spend a lot of money on it, just to keep that quality up."
Elders stud stock Alistair Keller said it was a very good strong sale from a lot of local support.
"Obviously the SheepMaster down here into the scrub country down the south of the Yorke Peninsula is really suited," he said.
"A few fellas have jumped from other breeds and they think they'll go well with their cropping enterprises.
"Like we said at the start of the sale, it's a young breed with a young breeder and fellas have got around him and supported him.
"The sheep are exceptional - at Orrie Cowie they're aiming for that very clean shedding sheep and the top price ram was exactly that."
Four of the five remaining sheep were sold shortly after the sale finished.
The sale was conducted by Elders with Tony Wetherall auctioneering.
Kiara Stacey
Journalist for Stock Journal. Kiara was in classified sales at Stock Journal before joining the editorial team in 2021. Kiara completed a Bachelor of Communication (journalism) at Deakin University the year prior.
Journalist for Stock Journal. Kiara was in classified sales at Stock Journal before joining the editorial team in 2021. Kiara completed a Bachelor of Communication (journalism) at Deakin University the year prior.
