ONE of the first bare shorn pair of rams from the 2018 Australian Sheep and Wool Show sold for $10,000 at Springwaters Poll Dorset ram sale on Friday afternoon.
The price paid marked the top price of the day at “Corcorans Plains”, just outside of Boorowa.
A son of Springwaters 310-4, 64 of which were sold on Friday, recorded a fat depth of 8 millimetres and an eye muscle area (EMA) of 43.26.
He was headed for Rene stud at Culcairn.
There were 12 stud rams auctioned before 164 flock rams went under the hammer at a sale conducted by Elders, Young, and Delta Livestock and Property, Wagga Wagga.
Of the total 176 animals under the hammer, all but five were sold for an average of $1729.
Riverview Wallah and Co, Rugby, picked up a draft of 18 rams.
Another volume buyer, Neringah Pastoral manager Brad Smith, said he bought 12 rams on the day, six each for two different accounts, but all headed for Frogmore properties, including his own and wife Mem’s “Bales”.
“We’ve been buying here a long time,” he said after the sale.
“We bought a couple of stud rams.”
He said the endearing qualities of the Springwaters rams that kept him coming back for more was their presentation and the fact their offspring “get up and go quickly”.
“They’re early maturing and have a softness we like.
“We sell our lambs as suckers, at about four to five months,” Mr Smith said.
“To give you an idea, we sold 328 autumn drop lambs two weeks ago at Cowra saleyards for a $237 top and a $210 average.
“Some of those lambs dressed at 27 kilograms, when you’ve got figures like that . . . well, that’s why we’re here.”
Stud principal Dane Rowley, who manages “Corcoran’s Plains” with help from parents Dennis and Jo-Anne, said he was very happy with the result.
“Obviously we’re a little bit back in the average from last year, but in terms of the season we’re having, we’re thrilled with it.
“And we had a good clearance, the lead rams are always going to sell, people are going to chase them, just to clear all but five rams, well, that was the aspect I was a little bit worried about coming into it,” he said.
“There’s always two groups of buyers at our sales, the group competing for the top end were very strong and there was also some good value with rams later on in the sale that didn’t quite make the money, but they averaged out really well.
“There were probably 95 per cent return buyers, there was a couple of new ones, which is really pleasing, given the tough season, they’re our regular clients coming back,” he said.
Dennis Rowley, before the sale, said not one of the flock rams had ever seen grain.
“You keep the stud rams fed up a bit, but otherwise none of these rams have had grain.
“We were lucky, we got 100 millimetres of rain in February, so we got crop in and it started our lucerne growing.
“The fact there are return buyers here suggests people agree with the direction we’re headed,” he said.
“We’re going for a more moderate size of ram, but meaty, with plenty of muscle.”
The top priced flock ram sold for $2600 and made up part of Riverview Wallah and Co’s draft.