Tablelands Dohne stud's annual ram sale at the Guyra Showgrounds on Tuesday achieved the a personal best for a ram sold under the hammer, with two selling for a the equal record top price of $2600.
Overall, 16 rams were sold from an offering of 39 to average $1387.
The 2022 sale had an increase on the average by $359, with an additional two rams being sold compared to the previous year's sale in 2021.
The sky opened up with heavy rain just as the sale was open to taking bids, but that did not deter buyers as all six registered bidders walked away with a ram on the day.
Top-priced buyer Will Mcclenaghan, Armidale purchased one of the equal top rams, Tablelands 200066, for $2600.
Mr Mcclenaghan has been buying from Tableland Dohne stud for over seven years and purchased the top ram at the previous years sale in 2021 for $2300.
The twin born ram possessed a -1.2 yearling fibre diametre (YFD)and a 0.9mm postweaning eye muscle depth.
"I was looking for a ram with a good frame and length as I'm trying to sheer them every 8 months and this large bodied ram had all those traits I was looking for," Mr Mcclenaghan said.
Notable return buyer Allan Hall, Gunnedah purchased four rams for an average of $1625, including the second of the equal top-priced rams at $2600.
The triplet-born, equal sale-toping ram was Tablelands 200219 which had a yearling clean fleece weight percentage of 15.4 and a YFD of -1.1.
Windy Ridge Farms, Inverell, were also a valuable client on the day buying three rams at an average of $1000.
"The rain and wet weather played a large part in the result today [Tuesday] a large number of buyers from the northern rivers and Queensland areas were unable to be here due to being cut off from the large downpour in the past week," said Tablelands Dohne stud principal Josh Frazer said.
"These rams have had over 1200mm of rain on them since birth.
"They have faced some tough environmental conditions, although the good rams sold well and they had good stud traits that buyers want"
"The plan moving forward is to continue to evolve strong genetics into my program and breed true dual purpose Dohne sheep."
The sale was conducted by Elders Armidale/Guyra with Mark Atkin the auctioneer.
