THE sixth annual Niela Merino on-property ram sale was held at Laggan on Saturday with strong support from local repeat buyers driving prices to a top price of $5000.
In total, Niela Merino stud principals Tony and Dianne McGaw sold 28 rams of the 40 on offer resulting in a 70 per cent clearance and average of $2092.
Mr McGaw said they were lucky enough to get a sunny day on Saturday, after 40 millimetres of rain fell on the property over the two days leading up to the sale.
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The rams came through another wet year, with this year being their second consecutive that they have had 1000 millimetres and snow falls from the beginning of the year to sale date.
Conducted privately under the Helmsman auction system, 16 return and new clients battled it out over and hour to select their purchases.
The top-price Poll Merino ram at $5000 was secured by Nick and Tanya Hearn, Greenmantle Road, Bigga.
Niela tag 227 was the high-seller sired by a home-bred Niela stud ram, and measured an 18.3-micron fleece with a standard deviation of 2.6 and coefficient of variation of 14.3pc.
Other significant sales included Barry King, Peelwood, who purchased a 19.4-micron ram for $3800.
Volume repeat buyers were Steve and Kellie Hogan, Yass, who put together a draft of nine rams paying to a top of $3000 and average of $1844.
Nathan Robertson secured two rams for Pastoralize Pty, Bigga, to a top of $3800, and another for himself, while Will Picker purchased two rams to a top of $3000 to averaged $2900.
The Niela woolclasser purchased another two horned rams this year for a $2200 average and $3000 top.
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