KARORI Merinos marked its 20th annual ram sale in style on Thursday by reaching a top of $3750 twice.
A crowd of buyers from across the district gathered at the Blomfield family's Walcha property in the hopes of snapping up the 50 superfine Merino and Poll Merino rams on offer.
In total, 49 of the 50 rams were sold during Thursday's live auction at an average of $2303.
The first of the two sale-topping rams was Karori 342, which was purchased by the Hoad family, North Mihi, Uralla.
A spring 2020-drop son of the Karori 164 ram, the equal top price ram boasted a 13.0 micron, a 2.4-standard deviation (SD) and an 18.2 per cent coefficient of variation (CV).
"What we really liked was his good, free-growing, clean wool," buyer Justin Hoad said.
"He also had a good worm count, low micron and looks to be an easy-care ram."
A return buyer to Karori, Mr Hoad said he was certain the ram would "fit right into the operation".
"There's no doubt he will fit the rainfall and from here he'll go out with the flock," he said.
"We're joining ewe lambs in April so we will need a fast turnover of rams to get new genetics in."
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The other top-selling ram was Karori 223 and it was knocked down to Livestock Industries, Armidale.
By the Karori 049 ram, the second of the two rams to reach the sale high price had a micron of 14.7 a SD of 2.2 and a CV of 15.5pc.
Vendors Ed and Karen Blomfield along Rob Blomfield said the two top sellers were among one of the most even drafts of rams the stud has ever offered.
"We're over the moon with the result," Mr Blomfield said.
"It's been one of those years where you're not too sure what's going to happen, but to us this is the best result we've ever had."
Mr Blomfield put the success of Thursday's sale down to the stud's dedication for breeding fit-for-purpose rams.
"We made the decision about 20 years ago to breed ultrafine wool suitable for next-to-skin garments and I'd argue that not only have we stuck to that objective, but our rams are second to none in that area," he said.
"This was our 20th sale and I think it is the best run of rams we've offered in terms of evenness and we appreciate the loyalty of our clients who appear extremely happy with the quality of the wool they are producing from the Karori rams."
The equal top price ram was among six purchased by Livestock Industries at an average of $2541.
Other volume buyers included Winterbourne Pastoral Company, Armidale, which bought 13 rams at an average of $2346, Ms Marj McFarland, Walcha, who has been buying rams from Karori over 20 years, purchased eight rams at an average of $1656, Alt Brothers, Glen Innes, which bought five rams at an average of $2500 and Yarraford Trust, Glen Innes, which also purchased five rams at an average of $2400. .
The sale was conducted by AWN and Nutrien Armidale with Greg Miller Auctioneering.
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Billy Jupp
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
