WITH instructions from farmer Phillip Rae, Creekside Ridge, Katanning, the Katanning Landmark team put together a cracking clearing sale under last Friday's sunny blue skies.
Headed up by Landmark stud and commercial sheep manager Tom Bowen, auctioneer Chris Elliott and auctioneering off-sider James Culleton, Landmark Corrigin, the sale reached firm monetary highs as a largely local crowd scrambled to lock in their desired lots.
Punters travelled from neighbouring towns to look over the well-kept offering and commented frequently on the exceptional condition of the larger machinery up for grabs which had been well-serviced and housed in sheds throughout its entire working career.
The solid clearance of extensive sundries proved pleasing but it was the bigger machines which attracted the serious attention.
Hyden farmers Lindsay James and Raeleen Mason, James Pastoral Co, were the last of the 242 people to register their interest with Landmark's administration staff Donna Amato and Sharon Ralph, in the office.
But their late arrival didn't stop them from snapping up the big-ticket item they came to buy.
As the very last item to be sold on the day, the John Deere 7920 FWA tractor (4660 hours) with loader attachments and full guidance system made a good impression.
And as such, was picked up by Mr James and Ms Mason for a sale-topping price of $94,000.
With bids kicking off at $85,000 there were a handful of bidders keen to get their hands on the well-maintained machine.
But Mr James said he'd been in the market for another tractor for a while and after scanning Farm Weekly's clearing sale ads and classifieds for some time, a quick inspection upon arrival at the sale proved fruitful.
"We run sheep and cattle as well as put in a crop," Mr James said.
"We have a bit going on at home so it'll be used to pull the air seeder and come in handy to move feeders and some hay."
A number of the other plant and machinery offerings also made good money, like the 2011 18 tonne Trufab chaser bin which sold to GW Boyle & Co, York, for $43,500.
PC & KL Lynch, Bremer Bay, looked to the new growing season as they snapped up the sale's Ausplow 36-26OS DBS bar and Simplicity 6000 TBH air seeder box as one complete package for $33,000, while a $15,000 starting bid was soon knocked out of the park as a large contingency of potential buyers tried to buy the advertised Scania 112H truck with 6.5m (21ft) tray, grain bin and Hobbs Hoist.
It was eventually knocked down to Mr Bowen on behalf of A & G Dunne, Beacon for an undisclosed amount.
Also proving popular was a 2004 Landcruiser ute which was offloaded for $28,000, while a John Deere 8650 4WD tractor (8610 hours) and a John Deere CTS header (4500 engine hrs, 3270 separator hrs) with tin front, tine reel and comb trailer, sold for $21,500 and $21,000 respectively to Warren Larke Family Trust, Corrigin and GM & DL Garlick, Katanning.
Plenty of interest in the 7m (23ft) two-deck convertible stock crate with Hobbs Hoist, saw its value climb to $15,500 thanks to CR & BK Farmer, Boddington, while Landmark's Tom Bowen locked in the Trufab chaff cart for the same price via a phone bid from the White Family Trust, Tambellup.
As at the majority of Great Southern clearing sales, three 45t Brereton field bins sold to high expectations, bringing $13,000 (Burra Burra Farms, Nedlands), $15,000 (A & W Anderson) and $13,000 (Greenhill Estate, Katanning) apiece.
A large number of bidders travelled to the sale specifically for the Cole HD800 5-in-1 bin with Hobbs Hoist that was eventually knocked down to Brett Johnathon, Williams, for $11,000 while the highly sought-after Farm King auger was also the focus of plenty of bids and sold to A & W Anderson for $10,000.
The very well-maintained Wilkins 16 wheel stubble rake and dolly was purchased by the Wise Family Trust, Katanning, for $9500 alongside a 2009 Mazda B50 2WD tip-tray ute for $9000 bought by Furphy's Co, Cuballing.
The two remaining Massey Ferguson tractors in the catalogue, an MF240 with three point linkage and front-end loader attachments, bought by Connamara Grazing, Kojonup, for $8500 and an MF185 with three point linkage and forks bought by WJ & LK Kenny, Bunbury, for $7500, proved there was still merit in buying older models.
Then $7000 was paid by SJ & MJ Williams, Kojonup, for a 26.5m (87ft) Burando gooseneck boomsprayer while Amerillup Pastoral Co paid $4200 for a set of Horwood Bagshaw hydraulic fold harrows.
The MRA Group Pty Ltd and KM Bignell & Co, Kojonup, forked out $3500 each for a 4t Weeks tipping trailer and 33 tine Chamberlain scarifier, respectively.
A Toyota Dyna 3t fire truck was also sold for $3500.
The produce section of the sale saw $150 a tonne paid for 30t of Latrobe barley (B & L Ward, Tincurrin), $200/t for 27t of Mace wheat (Mt Amaiden Farms, Moorine Rock) and $260/t for 25t of Jenabilup lupins (Michael Dougherty, Ravensthorpe).
A total of 700 bales of wheaten hay was the only major lot of the entire sale not to sell and was passed-in at $100/t.
Landmark Katanning auctioneer Chris Elliott was very pleased with the turnout and said it was the first clearing sale the area had seen in a number of years.
"The presentation of the equipment is an absolute credit to the vendor and the results spoke for themselves in that regard," he said.
"There wasn't much resistance to the higher price points even when bidding kicked off at elevated levels.
"It's probably reflective of the confidence in terms of the season and the fact that local buyers made the most of not having to travel too far to buy quality gear."
