Yalgoo Genetics' held their 33rd annual ram and ewe sale at the on-property woolshed in Walcha on a sunny day which drew buyers from near and far across the state. Available for buyers where a combined 80 merino and 1,377 ewes which have all been apart of the Yalgoo Genetics breeding program that stud owner Jock Nivison has created.
Yalgoos 1,377 ewes went for a total clearance on the day along with 77 of 80 merino rams being sold at an average of $3706. Lot 3 (Tag:217) was the top priced polled ram selling for $8000 to return buyers Greg and Kathy Tighe from Kelso, Guyra who own a 4,000 head flock outside of Guyra. The $8000 valued ram had a FP+ (Fibre Production Plus) score of 169, MP+ (Merino Production) 177 and CFW% (Clean Fleece Weight) of 31%. The highly regarded ram (Tag 217) attracted bids from across the room with Greg and Cathy Tighe the winners on the day.
"The objectivity of Jocks breeding is what brought us here today, we have purchased rams from Yalgoo before and we were happy with the outcome they produced. We will look to put them with some of our selected ewes and hope to see results" said Mr. Tighe.
"He (Tag 217) had a really good shape to him, early maturing and had a high fleece value. Was a pretty good summary of what we needed to incorporate into our flock" said Mr. Tighe
Top ram Tag 217 had a Scrotal size measurement of 40cm being the highest from the 80 rams offered with the next closest scrotal measurement on the day being 38cm belonging to Lot 6 selling for $6,000 to Coughlan Investments.
The Fibre Plus Index was measured among all rams in the catalogue for buyers to inspect ,FP+ index ranks animals on their ability to produce merinos for wool production operation. The index is aimed at those producers whose majority of sheep income come from their wool production.
Volume buyer and second highest ram sold for the day went to Wandjina Pastoral with a total of 6 ram's from the 77 sold. The second highest ram on the day attracted a price of $7,000, Lot 27 (Tag Y18002) with a FP+ score of 181, MP+ 204 and CFW% of 25%.
The 15month old merino hogget's; September shorn attracted an average of $237 across the 3 lots available. Lot 101 consisted of 600 ewes selling for $255, Lot 102 selling 400 ewes at $266 and Lot 103 sold 377 ewes at $180.
Stud principal Jock Nivison reflected on the overall sale as a "Outstanding result"
"We're very humbled to have received the support and have Yalgoo recognized for the direction that we have taken to drive top genetics within the merino industry, genetics is a long term game and take's years to create, with putting steps into place at the right time."
"Our ambition has always been to breed the industry's most profitable sheep, using supporting benchmarking data and science to provide validation to our clients. The quickest path to more profit is higher income and less cost, moving forward we plan to focus on the things that we have done well in the past."
"Our Y/7-15 index which is a custom index continues to be adopted by some of Australia's most profitable wool producers. The Yalgoo index gives our clients the best of both worlds. This Index will give more GFW than any other index whilst still putting slight downwards pressure on FD." said Mr Nivison.
The sale was conducted by Elders and Adcock Partners while interfaced with Auctions Plus. Auctioneers covering the sale where Lincoln Mckinlay and Nick Hall.
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