THE sale was in the middle of the Wheatbelt, but it was the sheep-handling equipment that attracted the attention of buyers at last week’s BC & J McGellin clearing sale at Bruce Rock, held by Primaries.
And it was a portable shearing shed that topped the day at $35,500 as higher-priced items were passed-in.
It was just one of the portable sheep handling devices that Primaries auctioneer Jay McDonald sold, with the shed set up with three shearing motors, although it could have been arranged as a four-stand shed.
Another piece of sheep equipment was a portable sheep shower which had a capacity of around 120 sheep, with very keen bidding taking the price to $30,000, with a set of McDougall portable yards making $15,500.
Another trailer was set up for crutching, complete with two crutching cradles and races, and it sold for $9000.
And at other end of the scale, an Ajax wool press was offered and sold for $70.
The sheep didn’t have the sale to themselves, but although seven tractors were offered, only two of them were sold, including a 4WD Case 4894 with powershift transmission, which made $13,000.
The other tractor that sold was a late 1950’s Fordson Dexta fitted with a three cylinder, 2.4L Perkins diesel motor – good enough to be in working order, but old enough to attract the vintage buffs – that made $3100.
It was a similar story with the trucks, with four offered but only the two small Mitsubishi trucks selling while the two Kenworth prime movers failed to meet reserves.
The first Mitsubishi 417 truck was licensed and had a single deck stock crate and sold for $17,000, while the second, also a 417 model, was unlicensed and had a firefighting unit with 3600L tank. It made $2500.
The trailers had more luck, with a tri-axle B double with four deck stock crates selling for $31,000 and a four axle Howard Porter tipping dog trailer making $20,000.
Two tri-axle trailers were offered, one with three Jetstream 5:1 bins that made $9000, while the other sold for $5500.
A tandem axle dog trailer with Hiab and 10,500L Freedom tank fetched $6500, and a two-axle nurse tank with 14,000L stainless steel tank made $1500.
A 43m (140ft) Auspray boomsprayer with hydraulic lift and fold boom and hydromotor-driven pump sold for $10,000 and although the TR97 header didn’t sell, its 11m (36ft) draper front made $8000.
Other items included a 40 tonne Walker field bin ($4000); a 30t Napier field bin ($1500); two cattle feeders ($2300, $2000); two new Universal Feeders ($2000, $1850); a Marshall Multispread ($4000); a smaller “as new” TPL spreader ($350); a 12m (40ft) Grain Commander auger ($2600) and a 13m (43ft) Cole SP auger ($1900).
Four 29-tine Chamberlain scarifiers were offered with two tandem hitches, with the first pair with hitch making $2000 and the second pair going for $1200.