In the midst of a drought Kurralea stud, Ariah Park has sold a Poll Dorset ram for $32,000, the Australian record price for a Poll Dorset ram sold at auction.
The ram was purchased by Chris Squires of Western Australian Poll Dorset studs, Shirlee Downs and Dongadilling, at Kurralea's 22nd Annual Production Sale held on Tuesday.
It's not the first record Kurralea has broken. In 2012 they sold ram, K11-11, for $28,000, an Australian Poll Dorset auction record at the time.
But, in 2014 that price was beaten by a Hillcroft Farms stud ram that sold at the Perth Royal Show for $31,000.
The record came at the start of the stud's ram sale which saw 19 Poll Dorset Stud rams average $4,434, 17 White Suffolk Stud rams average $1647, 101 Poll Dorset Flock rams average $952, 91 White Suffolk Flock rams average $837 and six Suffolk Flock rams average $800.
Stud principal, Ben Prentice said the new record-breaker was sired by Kurralea 241-14, known as Syd.
"We were very excited to see him sell like he did," Mr Prentice said.
"We thought he was a pretty handy ram that would attract attention but you can't imagine they're going to make those sort of numbers."
"His sire, Syd, badly broke his leg when he was a lamb but he recovered from that and became one of our leading sires."
He said the ram, which was sold as Lot 4, had the top LAMBPLAN figures of his drop.
"He had the highest muscle scan of any of our lambs, both Poll Dorsets and White Suffolks," Mr Prentice said.
The June-2018 drop ram had a post-weaning weight of 16.1, Pfat of -0.8, eye muscle depth of 3, carcase plus index of 218 and lamb eating quality index of 149.
His purchaser, Chris Squires said he was attracted by the ram's genetics and figures.
"He's got plenty of growth and a lot of muscle in his figures and he's a very correct sheep," Mr Squires said.
Mr Squires said he had used Kurralea semen back in the 1990s when he was first starting his stud.
He said they aimed to breed easy-doing sheep for their client base and would start utilising the Kurralea ram in their program as soon as possible.
"As soon as we can get him home and get some semen out of him we'll use him in our AI and ET program," Mr Squires said.
The Australian Poll Dorset Association President Isabele Roberts, Ridgehaven, Cudal said the record-breaking sale showed Poll Dorset breeders have great confidence in what they're producing.
"The lamb industry at this point is really booming and the Poll Dorset breeders are looking to consolidate what they've got and drive forward the advantage that we have," Ms Roberts said.
- Full sale report to follow.
