KOLINDALE has clearly solidified its reputation for breeding impressive sheep, with considerable buyer demand as shown during the entire five hours it took the Elders and Landmark teams to hammer through Monday’s line-up of 498 Merino, Poll Merino and White Suffolk rams on-property at Dudinin.
The Ledwith family once again presented an even catalogue of options representative of the typically well-grown and nourished genetics at Kolindale, which meant buyers had plenty to choose from, resulting in a ripper sale.
Confidence in the wool industry pushed the Merino and Poll Merino portion of the sale to once again achieve a total clearance and a whopping sale average of $2207.
The White Suffolks saw a slight downturn in the sale result in response to the current popularity of wool, with 140 of 150 sold at an average of $1001.
Kolindale stud principal Luke Ledwith said overall the sale was very positive.
“I think the rams we offered this year were the best they have been and with wool making about $3000/bale and lambs making about $7/kg, it’s certainly an exciting time to be involved in this industry,” Mr Ledwith said.
“We’re very grateful to all our clients who support the sale each year and we will continue to heavily invest in genetics so we can keep breeding quality dual purpose Merinos into the future.”
p Merino and Poll Merino
Wool is the flavour of the moment and the result of the Kolindale Merino and Poll Merino sale testified to that fact.
All up, 348 Merino sires went under the hammers of Elders auctioneers Nathan King and Preston Clarke, including 104 Merinos and 244 Poll Merinos, with the top price of the day set at $9000.
The average of $2207 marked a $564 rise on the sale result last year, with the Merinos seeing the bigger jump from $1567 last year to $2223 this year, but the Poll Merinos weren’t far behind, rising from $1686 last year to $2201.
Elders auctioneer Nathan King said buyer confidence was clear on the day.
“Given the current state of the wool market, buyers were clearly chasing wool quality and cut in their selections,” Mr King said.
“The bidding was very strong all day with a number of long-time Kolindale clients competing on similar types.
“The result of the day is a credit to the passion the Kolindale team has for breeding high quality wools.”
Buyers didn’t wait long to kick into gear when it came to the top price end of the sale, with the Merino in lot two selling for the sale top of $9000 to Mindarabin-based buyers Simon Hill and Damien Power, CMH Agri Pty Ltd.
Mr Hill said the operation had been buying Kolindale genetics for the past four to five years.
“We like the genetics available at Kolindale,” Mr Hill said.
“The top-priced ram we bought has beautiful free growing, long stapled and well-nourished wool which we know is the type of wool that does well in our environment.”
The top-priced ram was sired by White River 55 and had wool test results including 19.1 micron, 3.1 SD, 16.2 CV and 99.8 per cent comfort factor (CF).
Following their purchase early in the day, CMH Agri went on to buy a further 14 Kolindale Merino and Poll Merino sires, at an average of $3671.
Mr Hill said the line-up of Merinos throughout the shed was very even, meaning there were plenty of options to choose from.
“We were able to fill our requirements and we’re happy with the consistency of the team we selected,” he said.
Only a few pens further down the first line of rams was the $8300 top-priced Poll Merino, which was spotted by Kevin Broad, Elders stud stock, for the Davies family, Cardiff stud, Yorkrakine.
After the bidding opened at $4000, Mr Broad nodded his way to the top, beating out sale top-price buyer CMH Agri who were also keen to get their hands on the lengthy Poll.
Mr Broad said this was the first time the Davies family had bought from Kolindale but their selection was an eye-catcher.
“This is a magnificent ram,” Mr Broad said.
“He’s got shape and make, he’s square with a beautiful long staple.”
The sire goes back to Boonoke 26 and will be used as a stud sire at Cardiff representing a new bloodline for the stud, with wool test results including 19.1 micron, 3.3 SD, 17.3 CV and 99.5pc CF.
Another Poll bought early in the day went to another stud breeder, with Karingal Merino stud, Kondinin, purchasing lot three for $3700.
Their selection had wool test results including 22.3 micron, 4.1 SD, 18.4 CV and 96.9pc CF.
With a registered buyers list sitting at 80 strong, the majority of rams on the day saw competition from a range of buyers before being hammered down, but that didn’t stop plenty of buyers from filling their orders.
Once again the stand out volume buyer was Peter Gale, Landmark Brindley and Gale, Esperance, who, together with offsider Sam Bowen, Landmark livestock trainee, managed to secured 34 Merino and Poll Merino rams for an average of $1526 for long time Kolindale client, the Fowler family, Chilwell, Condingup.
Mr Gale said the most important requirement for the Chilwell operation is wool that is “white, white, white”.
“They farm in a high rainfall zone and need very white wools which can handle that environment,” Mr Gale said.
“Kolindale genetics have been performing very well for Chilwell for many years so they continue to support the sale each year.”
Also travelling a few kilometres to attend the annual Kolindale sale were Paul and Tate Barrett, Jerramungup, who returned to buy 16 Merino and Poll Merino rams for an average of $2406.
Paul Barrett said the family runs 3500 Merino ewes back at Jerramungup and had been supporting the Kolindale sale for more than 10 years.
“I like the wool cut we’re able to get and also the fertility of the Kolindale genetics,” Mr Barrett said.
“We’re always able to get what we need at the Kolindale sale.
“Luke comes and classes our hoggets for us so we’ve got a good relationship with him and that’s really important too.”
Westcoast Wool & Livestock’s Lincon Gangell was in the thick of the bidding action, tallying up a team of 15 Poll Merinos for an average of $3120 to head to Karlgarin for return Kolindale buyers E & H Tomsic.
“We were looking for big framed rams with good stylish wool,” Mr Gangell said.
“And there were certainly plenty to choose from on the day.”
Another volume buyer on the day was Brenton Hardie, Narrogin, who bought a team of 14 Merino rams, averaging $2193.
Mr Hardie said he had been on Kolindale genetics since the early 1990s and knew the free growing white wools to do the job.
“I like the character and nourishment of the Kolindale wools which is why I keep coming back,” Mr Hardie said.
Many other buyers were among the bidding tussle throughout the day, tallying up teams of rams to stay locally or to head to other parts of the State including the Wheatbelt, Great Southern, South West and Southern Coastal regions.
p White Suffolk
Before the Merinos got under way, the day was kicked off by the very even yarding of 150 Kolindale White Suffolk rams, of which 140 sold under the hammer of Landmark’s Michael Altus for an average of $1001.
The average price paid per White Suffolk was down this year by $239 on the 2017 result.
Mr Altus said the White Suffolk sale enjoyed consistent buyer support with some travelling from near and far, proving the quality of Kolindale genetics is worth seeking out.
Roy Addis from Landmark Breeding said there was quality from start to finish in the White Suffolk catalogue this year.
“The Kolindale team is investing in elite genetics to inject into their stud flock and those investments were highlighted in the presentation of rams this week,” Mr Addis said.
“The sale result reflected the swing towards Merino buying this year but was by no means a reflection on the quality of White Suffolks offered by the Ledwiths which were great representations of the breed.”
The top price of $1700 was paid by returning client Jeremy James, JJJ Farms, Hyden, who was familiar
with the quality of the Kolindale genetics.
He bought the top-priced ram weighing 108.5kg and with figures including 42 muscle and 6.1 eye muscle depth, as well as a further eight White Suffolks to average $1389 overall.
“I’ve been buying from the stud for about eight to 10 years and these White Suffolks work well,” Mr James said.
“These will go over Merino and first-cross Prime SAMM ewes.
“I try to turn off the crossbred lambs at 18-20 weeks as a target but they also perform well on stubbles.”
The Landmark Brindley and Gale Esperance duo of Peter Gale and Sam Bowen got involved in the White Suffolk portion of the sale too, landing a team of 32 White Suffolks for an average of $837.50 for Chilwell, Esperance.
Just as with the Kolindale Merinos, Chilwell is familiar with the stud’s White Suffolk genetics.
“They’re getting the job done,” Mr Gale said.
“Seventy five per cent of the suckers are out of the gate already, so they’re clearly quality rams which can produce fast growing, quality lambs.”
Paul Keppel, Elders Narrogin, also notched up a few White Suffolk purchases for a couple of Great Southern clients, tallying up a total of eight rams for an average of $1013.
“I was chasing good length, good frames and plenty of growth,” Mr Keppel said.
“There were plenty of those types of rams in the line-up to choose from.”
The remainder of the White Suffolk catalogue was divided among buyers largely from the local area, as well as other parts of the Wheatbelt and Great Southern.
