THE Freebairn family's clearing sale on their Tiree property west of Pingelly last Tuesday week attracted a very large crowd which included 257 buyer registrations.
And fortunately for all those who attended the sale, the ladies of the Pumphrey's CWA had ample supplies of bottled water and cool drinks for what turned out to be an extremely hot day with the auction taking just on four hours with a midday start.
The clearing sale came about as David Freebairn and his wife Meredith and their son Thomas and his wife Sarah have leased their property and as such Elders conducted the sale using two auctioneers, Dean Hubbard and Rohan Vaughan to offer the run of machinery, plant and the extensive line-up of sundries.
Naturally it was one of the last items to be offered, a JD 8520 of 5726 hours with duals and TLS, which topped the sale.
The unit attracted keen competition until finally knocked down by auctioneer Rohan Vaughan at $78,500 to Ken and Braden Grylls, Grylls Farming, Corrigin.
The previous item offered, a New Holland TM 165 with full suspension and four hydraulic outlets with 3730 hours on the clock, also attracted good interest until finally going for the third top price of the sale at $46,750, the buyer being Les Marshall, Dutarnining Pty Ltd, Pingelly.
Still on tractors, earlier an MF 1155 with duals and 7950 hours sold at $4000.
The second top price for the sale of $47,500 came with the unit offered following the JD 8520, this being the Volvo FL7 truck with 280,000km on the clock complete with dog trailer and bins to suit.
Put up firstly as a unit it failed to reach the vendors' reserve, the truck was then put up and at $47,500 was knocked down to Morgan Bros, Cranbrook.
The dog trailer and bin was then offered but failed to sell.
The final lot offered on behalf of the Freebairn family was the Case 2388 Xclusive with 2637 engine hours and 2019 rotor hours but with no bid received at $100,000 this unit was also passed in.
Also passed in were the Chamberlain 275 30ft bar and Flexicoil 1330 Air Cart, both initially offered separately then as a unit but bids were below the vendors' reserves.
Other items not selling were the Croplands Stallion 24 metre x 4000 litre tank, with no bid received at $5000 and the Nissan Navara Crew Cab ute, passed in at $11,000.
Much of the plant and machinery was in excellent condition and well presented including the New Holland BR7070 baler which had only done 13,000 rolls and sold to a Wandering outfit at $32,500, followed by a New Holland 1441 15ft Mower Conditioner which sold at $30,000 to a buyer from Moora.
Still on haymaking gear a Class Liner 780L Rotary hay rake at $12,000 is off to Redmond and a conventional 13 reel hay rake made $2600.
Grain handling and storage equipment saw a Cole 44' x 8" hydraulic LD auger with Honda motor go to a Corrigin buyer at $11,700, with other older augers selling at under $1000 and less.
Field bins usually sell well, as such a DE 45 tonner with hydraulic lift in very good condition sold to a Williams buyer at $10,500, a Brereton 25 tonner also going to a different buyer from Williams at $4500 and an older 25 tonne Grainmaster selling at $2700.
A local buyer picked up a Coles HD 800 16' seed and fertiliser bin at $4500 having also previously bought the Hobbs Hoist on which the bin was standing for $775.
Surprisingly, there was another situation where the Hobbs Hoist was offered before the unit it was supporting as was also the case with some spares for items, the spares offered before the item!
Two Horward Bagshaw clover harvesters were offered, one passed in at $5600, the second unit selling at $7000 to a West Pingelly concern.
Earlier in the run of sundries two 7ft clover harvester pick-up ducts were offered, the first offered getting a start at $50 and going on at $10 bids was finally knocked down at $540, the second unit with a more realistic start selling after a couple of bids at $200.
Sheep feeding, handling and associated gear saw a Tru Test set off scales sell at $675,
A TPW Bicentenary woolpress stayed locally at $6700, an old BHB woolpress went at $160, three Sunbeam shearing heads with downtubes went at $580 to $600, a tandem 35-bag sheep feeder went to a Beverley buyer at $950, five Bird round feeders sold from $1000 to $1200 and four rectangle feeders of various sizes and makes and ages ranged from $650 to $1100.
Other items saw a TPL V Push up Rake sell well at $2400 and a Shearer 33' Cultivator bar made $2600.
Two Flexi-N tanks were offered, a 43,000 litre capacity went a Popanyinning buyer at $4000 while one of 23,000 litre capacity went somewhat further to a Gnowangerup buyer at $2000.
Also offered were approximately 300 round rolls of old season hay offered in lots of 20 rolls with a Brookton buyer taking 200 rolls at $42.50 a roll, the other 100 rolls spread among three buyers at $35 a roll.
A few lots of electronic equipment were also offered, a moisture meter and probe went at $300, a Rinex AS 7500 auto shut off sold for $325, a 3405F series 2 A/R Controller for Boomspray sold at $1050 however a Ravin Envizio Pro Screen with Electronic Auto Steer failed to reach the vendors' reserve.
Outside vendors
At the conclusion of the Freebairn offering three items were offered account outside vendors.
A Harrington two stand crutching cradle sold well at $8000 to a buyer from Quairading, a licensed 2000kg tandem trailer went to a Wandering buyer at $3300 however the Versatile 895 tractor failed to reach the owner's reserve.