THREE champion rams snared the Royal Adelaide Elite Stud Sale top price of $12,500 at the sale held as part of the Royal Adelaide Show which concluded last week and two of the rams are headed to WA.
All up in the sale 41 rams sold from 62 offered, for an average of $4787.
Despite being slightly down on last year's top price of $22,000, the top stud sire prices were still considered a "healthy" outcome by agents and vendors.
The Poll Dorset offering secured one of the sale high prices and averaged $5500 for the five sold.
Thirty White Suffolks also topped at the sale high twice and averaged $4808, while six Suffolks sold to $6000 twice, averaging $4083.
The Poll Dorset sire to make the $12,500 equal top price was offered by the Ulandi Park stud, Marrabel, South Australia and it is now headed to WA after being purchased in partnership by the Squiers family, Shirlee Downs and Dongadilling studs, Quairading and the Fairclough family, Stockdale stud, York, while the Heggaton family, Sherwood stud, Kojonup, have purchased a semen share in the ram.
Ulandi Park 150024, is a triplet and was dropped in April 2015.
During the show the 147 kilogram ram was sashed the champion interbreed production terminal ram.
It ranks in the top two per cent of the new eating quality Australian Sheep Breeding Values Lamb2020 index at 113.8.
Its sire, Ulandi Park-100082, was the sire of the 2014 supreme Poll Dorset ram at the Adelaide Show and has been used extensively by the stud.
Shirlee Downs and Dongadilling co-principal Chris Squiers said he was at the show to see what new genetics were around and picked this ram out while attending the show.
"He is a good meaty sheep with a great hindquarter," Mr Squiers said.
"He's just a really good all-round sheep who we think will make a difference in our breeding programs."
The ram will be a new bloodline for both the Shirlee Downs-Dongadilling studs and the Stockdale stud.
Also heading to WA is one of the $12,500 equal top-priced White Suffolk sires.
The 16-month-old White Suffolk ram, offered by Steve Funke, Bundara Downs, Western Flat, South Australia, was purchased by Brenton Addis, for his newly registered Yonga Downs stud, which he will run at the Garnett family's Gnowangerup property where he works.
The 120kg, Bundara Downs156938, is a son of outcross sire Bundara Downs 122026.
It was runner-up in the lamb production class and has Lamb2020 index of 115.9 and a CarcasePlus index of 218.4.
Brenton's father, Landmark Breeding representative Roy Addis said the ram was an upstanding sheep with terrific ASBVs.
"He shows good growth, muscle and fat and his figures back him up," Mr Addis said.
The ram will be a leading sire in the stud's breeding program this year and will be used over a selection of Bundara Downs ewes.
Mr Funke said the result showed the strength and confidence in Bundara Downs genetics.
The third ram to hit the $12,500 top, sold by Baringa White Suffolks, Oberon, New South Wales, went to Barbara and Ian Nitschke, Glenarbian stud, Millicent, South Australia.
The June 2015-drop ram weighed 123kg and was a son of Premier-130035 and was out of Tattykeel-110517.
It was the reserve senior champion White Suffolk at the recent Australian Sheep & Wool Show, Bendigo, Victoria, and has a Lamb2020 index of 109.9 and CarcasePlus index of 173.5.
The interest in the WA sale didn't just stop at the top-priced rams - there was a handful of other buyers from WA who operated in the sale.
The Stevenson family, KD Genetics, Cunderdin and Kojonup, also created a stir when it paid $10,000 for a ram from the Wingamin stud, Karoonda, South Australia.
The ram was sashed the senior White Suffolk ram and was part of the stud's winning interbreed group of three rams in the show.
The Ditchburn family, Golden Hill, Kukerin, was in on the action purchasing a White Suffolk sire for $6000 from the Waratah stud, Victoria.
Another WA stud operating on the White Suffolk rams was the Brimfield stud, Kendenup, which purchased two sires at $3000 each from Julie Weisner's Glengarry stud, NSW.
Also buying White Suffolk sires were Anthony McDonald, Esperance, who paid $6000 for a ram from the Aroona Park stud, Minlaton, South Australia, while the Thompson family, Boyup Brook, secured a ram from the Ramsay Park stud, Minlaton, South Australia, for $3500.
Also heading to WA was a Bundara Downs Poll Dorset sire which was purchased at $2500.
