The 5th annual Wilson’s Creek White Suffolk ram sale reached a sale high of $1200 near Uralla on Monday.
Tony and Janet Gall, along with their son Cameron, welcomed a string of repeat buyers to inspect the draft of rams.
Of the 39 offered, 13 sold at auction to average $762.
Auctioneer Tony Frizell of PR Watts and Co, Armidale, opened the sale with the familiar statement of the current trying times but was quick to reinstate the positivity of the lamb market still holding strong.
“And when it does rain, it will be hard to source rams, especially well bred and conformed rams like these,” Mr Frizell said.
Clive and Natasha Pearson, Glenbrook, Armidale, purchased the top priced ram for $1200.
The 2017-drop Farrer 120096 son measured a birth weight (BWT) of 0.29, weaning weight (WWT) of 9.9, a fat (PFAT) of -0.9, eye muscle depth (PEMD) of 0.8, a worm egg count (WEC) of -25 and a lamb 2020 index measure of 113.07.
But, it was his conformation that caused Mr Pearson to bid so high.
“He is long and wide and stands so square,” Mr Pearson said.
He plans to put the ram over first cross ewes.
“We join around 700 ewes annually to supply the store lamb market and find the White Suffolks lamb easier than the Poll Dorsets,” Mr Pearson said.
Greg Munsie, Big Ridge, Uralla, had been buying Wilson’s Creek rams for three years and selected a Farrer 150196 son for his low birth weight (0.02) to put over maiden first cross ewes.
“We breed our own first cross ewes, joining around 800 ewes annually and find the Wilson’s Creek rams are improving lambing ease and growth rates – we are reaching market specs quicker,” Mr Munsie said.
The sale was conducted by PR Watts and Co, Armidale.
