Rams with bigger eye muscle figures were the flavour of the day among the top sellers at the Coronga White Suffolk ram sale, held on-property at Orange, Friday, September 1.
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The sale topped at $3200 to the neighbour, Bateman Grazing, which also runs Gilmandyke Angus, and was also the volume buyer.
All up, the repeat buyer, represented by Jack Newham and Wade Peatman, bought 15 rams to average $1506.
Top-priced ram, Coronga 220547, was a son of Ellamatta 200079, which had been the top-priced ram at Ellamatta's 2021 sale and was in the top five per cent of the breed for post weaning eye muscle depth.
The Coronga sale topper, with a PEMD figure of +3.35 was in the top 10pc, as well as for post weaning fat depth, with a figure of 0.55.
All up, Ellamatta 200079 had 27 sons offered, of which 16 sold for a 59 per cent clearance, which showed the stronger interest his offspring.
The sale overall had a 55pc clearance of 56 rams sold from the 102 offered, which averaged $1196.
The Bateman draft also included the second top-priced ram at $3000, Coronga 220206, another Ellamatta 200079 son, also with a top 10pc PEMD figure of 3.48, as well as top 20pc for birthweight and post weaning fat.
The next highest number of sons from represented sires was 11 head from Felix 200556, an outcross sire Coronga bought at that stud's 2021 sale to add extra frame, growth and bone, and he had a post weaning weight in the top 10pc of the breed.
His top son, Coronga 220059, at $1600, was part of the Bateman draft and stood out for its top 10pc figures for PEMD, lamb eating quality index and terminal carcase production index.
Hot on the heels of the top and second top Bateman lots, as underbidder, was the Noakes family, Bedgerabong, who, after being outbid on the top rams found their level on four other lots to top at $1600 and average $1250.
Kim Noakes had bought the top-priced ram at $4200 at last year's sale, but this year her husband, Ken, and their daughter, Samantha, attended, the auctioneer, Elders' Marty Simmons, enjoying the mid-bidding conferencing going on between the father-daughter duo as to when to pull up.
He noted they made some good value purchases on the rams they ended up buying mid-way through the sale.
Other regulars among the gallery included Will Lee, Lee and Co, Claremont, Larras Lee, who bought five to a top and average of $1000; Dye farming Bumbaldry, which took six to a top and average of $1000; and, Larras Pty Ltd, Larras Lake North, Molong, which bought six to a top of $1200, twice, to average $1067.
James Jackson, Coronga, said the family had expected a softer clearance, given the current market and seasonal outlook, but "we're focusing on what's happening two years from now and we have confidence in the industry".
His sister and co-vendor, Kirrily Rourke, said they were pleased with the result, and while the seasons trend up and down, this was still "another successful ram sale".
The sale was conducted by Elders and online via AuctionsPlus.
