IT'S not every day one gets close to $50,000, but when it comes to Dorper sheep and the Moama-based Dell stud operated by the van Niekerk family, it feels like just a normal part of the day to Abigail Vagg.
At nearly 2, Abigail feels at home among her mother's Dell Dorpers and African and Dumisa White Dorpers, so it wasn't unusual that she would give Dell's 2020 National Show reserve senior champion ram a good-bye scratch before it made it's way from Dubbo showground to a new home at Cunnamulla, Queensland, last Friday.
The price broke the 2012 record by $5000.
The two-day national show and sale returned to Dubbo after several years as a feature of the Bendigo Australian Sheep and Wool show, Victoria.
Last week, 17 studs exhibited 101 representatives of the two breeds during the show, while Friday's auction cleared all 53 Dorpers for a $3311 average and 38 White Dorpers for a $2932 average.
- Show and sale results, p88-89.