THE quality was certainly there but buyer numbers were back on previous years at the Fearnley Poll Dorset ram sale last week.
Principals Bruce and Pauline Cook offered 100 rams at the on-farm sale in Badgingarra with chef daughter Monica of Shadows Wine Bar, Perth, putting on a great lunch.
While the delicious food certainly brought a few people out on the day, it struggled to convert to strong buying behaviour for the high quality, paddock-reared 2015-drop rams, with 16 buyers compared to 21 in 2015.
Elders stud stock manager Tim Spicer said even though clearances were down on previous years, buyers were able to buy to their budget.
"The quality of sheep on offer was outstanding from lot one to 100 but buyers were being selective on eye muscle and structures, which is what people are chasing these days,"he said.
"Bruce has also had a couple of major clients swap breeds or get out of sheep altogether and that impacted on the clearance rate."
The first 28 of the 100 rams sold had complete pedigrees with CarcasePlus indexes of between 189 to 203, PFAT of -0.2 to -1.2 and PEMD of 2.3 to 3.3.
The stud is in the top 10 per cent for Australia-wide ASBVs for PEMD and eating quality based on results of more than 42,000 terminal sheep.
A closed flock with minimal sire purchases had also ensured disease risk is also low.
Weights provided on the day for all sheep were taken four weeks ago, however Elders auctioneer Gary Preston said the sheep had put on roughly five kilograms per week since that date, ensuring they were at an ideal mating weight and condition.
Rams were offered in pens of four with the winning bidder nominating how many they would like at the winning bid. The balance of rams were offered until all four were sold.
There were still a number of regular buyers, with White's Barara, Eneabba, I & D Fox, Dandaragan, KE & AC Smith, Dandaragan, D & B Mondello, Badgingarra and J & E Scotney, Badgingarra, DP & W Mills, Eneabba, returning to add on from last year's sale.
The top price $1400, 105kg ram went to Menardie, which was its only purchase of the day and was from the eighth lot sold.
The three other rams in the pen were also in strong demand with D & B Mondello purchasing two at $1000 and I & D Fox purchasing the last ram for $1300.
I & D Fox were strong purchasers on the day purchasing 10 rams under the hammer as well as an additional three following the auction.
They paid the second top price of $1300 at an overall average of $880 across the 13 rams.
Mick Fox said he had "extremely successful" lambing with the Fearnley stud rams last year.
"We have been purchasing from Fearnley for the last three or four years and we have had very good mating with up to 119pc on some twins," he said.
Other multiple buyers included J & E Scotney with 11 rams at an average price of $604, D & B Mondello with eight rams at an average of $762, KE & AC Smith with eight rams and the White's Barara, Eneabba, with seven rams at an average of $1014.
