COOL and overcast conditions greeted buyers at the fourth annual Salway Maternal Composites ram sale on Thursday.
A crowd of more than 20 registered bidders gathered at the Mulligan family's Walcha property, Salway, to get their hands on the 183 2020-drop rams on offer, while many more followed the sale online via AuctionsPlus.
In total, 170 of the 183 rams offered were sold at an average of $1869, with the 26th ram in the catalogue (tag 200060) reaching a sale-high $3600.
The 17-month-old son of Cloven Hills 170188A and out of the 160291 ewe was a twin, and rated in the top five per cent of the breed for number of lambs weaned (NLW) and number of lambs weaned for a one-year-old ewe (YNLW) as well as the top 10pc for fat (PFAT) and scrotal circumference (PSC).
The top-selling ram was purchased online by Muirlawn Pty Ltd, Dalveen, Queensland.
"He rated really high in the indexing and had some really good growth rates," Salway Maternal Composites stud principal Rob Mulligan said.
"As well as that, he has a really good phenotype working for him as well.
"We've had a lot of rain on them this year and we really do focus on their feet, structure and in this high-rainfall country you have to, otherwise you won't get the longevity you want out of them."
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The top-priced ram was among one of five Muirlawn Pty Ltd bought during the sale at an average of $2720, while Nutrien Euroa, Victoria, was the sale's other major online volume buyer securing 12 rams at an average of $1458 on behalf of a client.
Volume buyers in attendance included Wirrabilla Farms, Walcha, which purchased 12 rams at an average of $2191 including the sale's second-top-priced ram (tag 200198) for $3500. Point Pastoral Company, Coolah 20 rams at an average of $2055 and Glen Collin Pastoral Company, Walcha, ten rams at an average of $2877.
"I was looking for a really well-rounded ram, which pretty much all of them are," Glen Collin Pastoral Company's Pete Young told The Land.
"We got into the composites about four years ago and we have bought lots of rams from Rob ever since, so our mob is heavily based on the Salway genetics."
Mr Young said his draft of rams would "pretty much be put straight to work".
"They'll go over composite ewes and we have a heap of ewe lambs this year," he said.
"We'll pick out the ones with the lower birth weights and put those ones over the ewe lambs, but it is all composites.
"From there, the wether lambs will either be sold as stores or fattened, while the ewe lambs will keep as replacements or anything that is surplus to requirements we'll sell as a future breeder or as joined ewes."
Thursday's sale marked the stud's biggest yet as it went from selling 39 of 51 rams in 2020, to selling 117 of 120 rams last year, to selling 170 of 183 this year.
Mr Mulligan said he was eager to see how the sale would go with more rams being offered and he was delighted with the result.
"I'd just like to thank everyone so much for coming along and it was really pleasing to not only see so many repeat buyers, but so many new clients as well," he said.
"It's really pleasing to see the sale continue to grow every year and we can't do that without the support that we appreciate so much."
The sale was conducted by Nutrien Boulton's Walcha with Mat Larkings and Simon Newton auctioneering.
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