A SEASON-opening clearing sale in the Upper Great Southern last Friday, attracted a large crowd with more than 200 buyer registrations.
Held by Elders on Brian and Rose Donaldson's property south east of Wandering, vehicle registrations indicated potential buyers had come from Albany and Augusta and north to Carnamah, with one couple making the trip from Derby "just to have a look".
Top price honours went to a John Deere 6810 tractor, offered by outside vendor Maurice Sewell, LM & V Sewell, which was knocked down at $41,000, surprisingly, to the Derby couple.
Brenton and Cora Ewen have a contracting business in Derby and own a small property in the Porongurup.
They share their time between Derby and the property which they are developing, and were impressed with what was on offer.
They also bought from the Donaldson offering an MF 56 combine and harrows for $1000, and a New Holland 96 slasher for $1400, offered on account of Cranston Pty Ltd.
The top-priced item in the Donaldsons' offering was a NH Ford 7840 tractor which sold for $24,500 to another distant buyer Brian Eastcott, Busselton.
Perhaps Mr Donaldson's pride and joy in his machinery offering was his Cat D4D dozer.
Roughly 40-years-old, it came complete with tree bar, blade and ripper which will be put to good use by the Boddington buyer who forked out $18,000.
An uncommon item was an old Edson drilling rig, which at $8000 found an owner from Brookton, while an old Fiat tractor with FEL was snapped up for $6000, bound for the Dumbleyung Men's Shed.
An old Ford 5000 tractor with duals went at $3900.
As with any property in the same hands for 62 years many of the items being offered were dated by that time span.
One of the more recent purchases, which saw good competition, was a Hecton crutching cradle which went to a Carnamah buyer at $5000.
The few other sheep items offered included a Sunbeam Master Pinner wool press which sold for $1800 to a Narrogin buyer; a round wool table in very good condition ($375); wool scales ($150); an older-type single axle 20 bag sheep feeder ($600) and an old double deck stock truck ($800).
Grain handling and storage equipment saw a Duranillin buyer go to $6100 for a fairly new 28 tonne DE Engineers field bin with auger while an older model 25 tonne Klimax silo attracted a winning bid of $1500.
A Wheatland 10.9m x 20cm (36ft x 8in) auger went to a Wickepin buyer for $3900 and an older model Cole 5-in-1 truck bin was probably good buying at $1400.
Earlier in the sale some older-style grain silos were offered and sold from between $200 and $800 and an old truck grain bin sold well at $1000.
Other larger items saw an old HB 2140 header go to a Williams collector for $1100; a 25 tine Chamberlain scarifier made $850; a Pederick root rake attracted $1700; a very heavy duty stone or stick rake no doubt for use with the D4D crawler made $1000 and a 2t Marshall twin super spreader could have been good buying for a small holding at $1200.
Some motorbikes were offered topped by a Honda four-wheeler Big Red 3000, which went for $2000 and a Honda Bushlander GTX 200 two-wheeler sold for $1600, with two older model Yamahas going for $500 and $180 and a Jenell four-wheel motorbike spraying rig selling for $475.
Some pieces of plant being offered could be described as vintage and well sought by those who might still have a use for them as well as collectors: 3PL grader blade ($575); 3PL post hole digger ($170); large dam scoop and cables ($550); 3PL Teagle Tip Mix ($760) and a Britstand single mouldboard plough ($620).
Two other interesting pieces were a small Advance metal lathe ($325) and an electric meat saw ($260).
One of the newer items, always very handy on a farm, was the Rota 800 litre tank plus 4kW (5.5hp) Honda engine on a sled which sold at $1200.
Brian Donaldson commented after the sale that he and his wife Rose were very happy with the result and they were looking forward to their retirement in Narrogin where some family members live.
Of other higher-priced items offered by outside vendors, were account LM & V Sewell, four Eze sheep feeders ($550-$800); sheep drafting race ($850) and a 1000L fuel tank on tandem trailer ($1100).
Account Cranston Pty Ltd: Set of Shearer wideline harrows ($2000) and a Big Bale Buggy ($5750).
Account CJ & RJ Turner: Five tonnes of bagged sub clover ($3300 a tonne).
