Sunshine on a wet Riverina greeted buyers at The Yanko Merino 2016 on-property sale held at “The Yanko”, Jerilderie on Thursday.
A solid attendance saw a complete clearance of 72 rams offered sold to 20 buyers for an overall average of $1798 and a top price of $5500. Poll Merinos shone through averaging $1840 for the 25 offered and recording the top-price of $5500, while the top money in the Merinos was $3800 as 47 sold for an average of $1776.
The top-price ram was purchased by G.C. and L.J. Howard, Illawarra Merino stud, “Robinhood”, Milbrulong, for $5500. The ram tested 20.3- micron fleece with 3 standard deviation (SD), 14.9 coefficient of variation (CV) and a yearling clean fleece weight of 25.4 which placed him in the top four per cent of the 2015-drop.
Graeme Howard, Illawarra Merino stud, said he was drawn to The Yanko after inspecting a selection of rams in 2015.
“We selected a stylish free-growing white wool ram who is structurally correct to use in the stud, and were pleased with his overall figures,” Mr Howard said.
The $3800 top-price Merino ram was selected by Nauvess Pty Ltd, Longwood, Victoria. The 20.3-micron son of The Yanko Enfield with 3.6 SD, 17.7 CV and a huge yearling clean fleece weight of 32.5, was one of four rams purchased by Nauvess for a $3238 average.
Curry Farming, “Glenfield”, Illabo were strong contributors paying a top of $1800 as the put together nine rams for an average of $1111.
Dirranbandi, Queensland producers Don and Belinda Perkins of “Nelyambo”, purchased seven rams for an average of $2314 paying a top of $3200. Kingston Partners, “Yarrawah”, The Rock, secured six rams for $1800 average with a top price of $2600.
The Yanko principal, Hugh Cameron, said despite 35 millimetres of rain in the lead up to the sale they were pleased with the attendance, seeing six first- time buyers and many return clients. The sale was conducted by Landmark with Peter Godbolt adding up the bids.