An increased offering followed by an increased clearance rate was a highlight at the Bocoble Merino ram sale at Eumungerie, near Dubbo.
On the back of show success, the Cox family upped their offering from 60 rams in 2022 to 72 rams in 2023.
It resulted in an extra 11 rams selling in 2023 to give Bocoble a slightly better clearance rate of 83 per cent this year as 60 of 72 rams sold to an average of $1675.
Bocoble's Hayden Cox said the sale "went really well".
"We just had a little bit of interest since last year through a few field days and some pretty good show results," he said.
"With the season turning, and the markets not being too good, we didn't sell as many as we were thinking but we still sold more than last year."
Some of the "pretty good show results" came from the sire of the top-priced ram at the sale.
The sire was named supreme exhibit at the Great Southern Supreme Merino Show and went on to win supreme Merino ram at Sydney Royal as well.
Meanwhile, the top-priced ram at the sale, Bocoble 217, was purchased by John and Jack Webb, Cooyal, near Mudgee, for $4000.
The horned ram had a fibre diameter of 16.9 micron, standard deviation of 2.4 micron, coefficient of variation of 14.4 per cent and comfort factor 99.8pc.
The Webbs bought 10 rams in total to an average of $2100. They included two of the three equal-top-priced poll rams which sold for $3000 each.
That draft of rams was on the higher end of things for the Webbs who tend to buy between six and 10 rams each year.
John Webb has been buying rams from Bocoble for 48 years to use with their superfine Merino commercial flock.
"They've just suited our area, the micron suits us and [they have] a soft stylish type of wool," Mr Webb said of the Bocoble rams.
Mr Webb said he found Merinos easier to manage while he also liked to keep things "pretty stable" through his flock.
"We don't run any crossbreds, we just feel if you stick with it through thick and thin, you come out on top," he said.
The other volume buyer of the sale was Joe Byrnes, Gunning, who purchased nine poll rams to a top of $2250 and an average of $1500.
In a breakdown of the sale, all 36 poll rams sold to an average of $1791 and 24 of 36 horned rams sold to an average of $1500.
The sale was conducted by AWN Livestock Tamworth with John Croake the auctioneer. AuctionsPlus provided the online interface.
Ben Jaffrey
Ben is a content curator and journalist for The Land. He has been with ACM since 2015 and first worked at The Area News and then at the Northern Daily Leader. Ben first joined ACM Agri as a digital journalist for all seven agricultural mastheads in 2022 before shifting to The Land full-time in 2023.
Ben is a content curator and journalist for The Land. He has been with ACM since 2015 and first worked at The Area News and then at the Northern Daily Leader. Ben first joined ACM Agri as a digital journalist for all seven agricultural mastheads in 2022 before shifting to The Land full-time in 2023.
