IT HAS been a cracking start to the selling season at Forbes where about 28,000 first-cross ewes sold to good competition at the 43rd annual first-cross ewe sale on Thursday.
"The good sheep sold extremely well and then the lighter sheep still sold very well," McCarron Cullinane Chudleigh auctioneer Adam Chudleigh said.
"There were still buyable sheep for a lot of people.
"The market could have been $30 or $40 [a head] back on last year's extreme result but it was still very strong."
Top money for young unjoined first-cross ewes was $452 a head for the lead draft in the 1700 March/April 21' drop, November-shorn, first-cross ewe lambs sold by the Jones family, The Troffs, Trundle.
The pen of 222 also took out Forbes Show Society's Glamis Border Leicester stud trophy for the best presented pen of first-cross ewes - a prize the Jones family have been awarded five times in the last six years.
Bred from Darriwell ewes and by Glamis Border Leicester rams, the entire draft of 1700 averaged $410.
Meanwhile TC Morrison Partnership, Hillcrest, Forbes, sold 1970 March/ April '21 drop, October-shorn, first-cross ewe lambs to $412 to average $343. They were out of Pooginook-blood ewes and by Glamis Border Leicester rams.
The Morrisons have bred first-cross ewes for the sale at Forbes for 21 years and on Thursday also sold 130 June/July '21 drop, November-shorn, first-cross ewe lambs to $272.
The Quade family, Roseneath, Trundle, sold 630 March/ April '21 drop, November-shorn, first-cross ewe lambs to $378 to average $335. They were out of Centre Plus Merino ewes and by Glamis Border Leicester rams.
And for the second year running, Robert and Sherrie Clemson, Lilydale, Burcher, sold the top-priced scanned-in-lamb first-cross ewes.
The $500 market toppers bred from Laurel Park-blood Merino ewes and by Wattle Farm Border Leicester rams were June/July '20 drop, November-shorn and scanned-in-lamb (SIL) to Poll Dorset rams.
In other sheep news:
Meanwhile KP and RI McMahon, Pine Park, Tullamore sold 200 June/ July '20, November-shorn, first-cross ewes SIL to Armdale Park Poll Dorset rams for $485.
Their draft of 400 August/September '20 drop, August-shorn, first-cross SIL ewes fetched $480 while another 220 September/ October '20 drop, August-shorn, first-cross SIL ewes made $455.
KC and BL Jones, Ashford Neath, Trundle, sold about 400 October/ November '20 drop, December-shorn, not-station-mated first-cross ewes to $412 to average $399. They were out of Mumblebone Merino ewes and by Glammis Border Leicester rams.
EH Mattiske and Son, Yarraville, Forbes sold about 600 Aug/ Sept '20 drop, November-shorn, not-station-mated first-cross ewes to $410 to average $341. They were bred from Tara Park-blood Merino ewes and by Wattle Farm Border Leicester rams.
In the Merino section top sale was from Les and Kerry Gould's four and a half-year-old, March-shorn Braeside-blood SAMM ewe flock which realised $345.
Mr and Mrs Gould of Lana, Burcher, sold about 1000 Merino ewes in a flood dispersal on Thursday with rising waters from Lake Cowal through the Lachlan Shire. They averaged $293.
The sale was conducted by Elders, Forbes Livestock and Agency, Kevin Miller Whitty Lennon, Nutrien, AWN Langlands Hanlon, McCarron Cullinane Chudleigh and VC Reid and Livestock.
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