IT was a smooth selling effort from start to finish at this year's Ashbourne White Suffolk and Prime SAMM ram sale on-property at Katanning.
Buyers were keen to lock up their selections from the 123 head line-up and the selling teams from Nutrien Livestock and Elders were happy to oblige, quickly hammering down a combined total of 120 sires by the end of the day to a sale top price of $2200, an overall gross of $141,000 and an average of $1175, with negotiations continuing post-sale for the passed in few.
It was a reduced overall offering when compared to last year, when a total of 138 of 166 sires were sold to a top of $3300, an overall gross of $161,300 and an average of $1169.
Last year it was a Prime SAMM sire which got the nod as the overall top-priced ram, but this year it was back to the White Suffolk team for the top-priced ram at $2200 with the first run of White Suffolk sires providing buyers with plenty of incentive to bid up.
Ashbourne stud principal Simon Kerin said he was proud of the quality of rams yarded once again this year.
"I think we had a pretty similar catalogue of rams to last year and I'm happy with how they've presented," Mr Kerin said.
"Some complimentary comments have been made - it was great to have the sale very well supported again from both returning and new clients.
"We did make a decision to drop back the numbers offered this year, just due to the reducing ewe numbers and the amount of water around so I was glad to see everyone was still able to get what they needed today."
White Suffolk
The White Suffolks kicked off the sale without missing a beat, with no-nonsense bidding resulting in a quick selling effort which saw a total clearance and an improved average on the 2019 result.
A team of 75 White Suffolks were offered and sold, reaching the sale top-price of $2200, a gross of $96,050 and an average of $1281, up by $103 on the 2019 average of $1178.
At the top end of the sale, top-price buyers Wayne and Brad Tapscott, DJ Tapscott & Co, North Jerramungup, were busy, securing eight of the first 10 rams sold, including the top-priced ram in lot 10.
Their top-priced pick was an ET-born May-drop lamb with figures including 0.28 BWT, 12.41 WWT, 19.94 PWWT, -0.51 PFAT, 2.07 PEMD and 151.58 TCP.
The Tapscotts mate about 4200 Merino ewes each year, of which about 2500 are mated to White Suffolk sires.
"We've been buying our rams here for more than 10 years now and they produce the results," they said.
"We liked the big, square frame on lot 10, he has the right look about him for what we need and generally we thought the figures were pretty good on the rams we've bought today."
By the end of the sale, the Tapscotts had successfully bid on a team of 10 Ashbourne White Suffolks, at an average of $1760.
The second and third top-priced rams sold on the day were also in the White Suffolk catalogue and bought by the Tapscotts, with the ET-born lamb in lot seven selling for $2000, while lots two and six each cost $1900.
The second top-priced ram had ASBVs including 0.36 BWT, 11.49 WWT, 18.49 PWWT, 0.56 PFAT, 2.89 PEMD and 156.36 TCP.
The volume buyer on the day was Roy Addis, Nutrien Livestock Breeding, who held the bidding cards for some returning clients and one new client based at Broomehill and Pingrup.
Combined, Mr Addis bought a team of 15 rams to make him the overall volume buyer of the day, broken down to teams of seven for an average of $957, three at an average of $1000 and five averaging $1080.
"Today we were looking for post weaning weights, good structure and length," Mr Addis said.
"The sheep were there to choose from and I'm happy with the teams of White Suffolk sires we were able to put together."
Other volume buyers in the White Suffolk catalogue included return client New Norcia-based Martindale Pty Ltd, who secured eight at an average of $1425, while Gray Ag Pty Ltd, Esperance, bought a team of seven for an average of $1186.
Five buyers were able to secure teams of five White Suffolks each including WR & PC Zadow, Kojonup and CJ & BA Lang, Wickepin, who each paid an average of $1280, KJ Cunningham & Co, Tambellup, who paid an average of $1140, Sandplain Farming Trust, Esperance, who paid an average of $1240 and M & JM Sadler, Tambellup, who paid an average of $1310.
Nutrien Livestock auctioneer Mark Warren said he thought the White Suffolk team penned up extremely well this year, showing good size and length of body.
"We yarded less than the previous year, but the competition was good and buyers were able to get the numbers they needed," Mr Warren said.
"We'll certainly look forward to putting the numbers of rams offered back up in future but I think the sale went very well this year which is a credit to the efforts put in by the Ashbourne team."
Prime SAMM
The pacey selling effort continued into the run of Prime SAMM sires on offer as buyers made it an easy day at the office for the Elders selling team on the rail.
By the end of the auction, Elders auctioneer Roger Fris had sold all but three of the rams on offer and negotiations continued after the sale.
This year 45 of the 48 offered sires were sold under the hammer to a buying gallery of new and returning clients who pushed the sale top to $1800, while the gross was $44,950 and the average was $999.
The average price was down from $1145 last year, but buyers were no less keen to get their hands on some quality Prime SAMMs with the top price of $1800 achieved for the sire in the seventh pen.
Phil Corker and Chris Rhodes, Rhodes Pastoral, travelled from Boyup Brook to be one of the volume buyers in the Prime SAMM portion of the sale and included among their team was the top-priced ram.
It had a scanned weight of 86, an eye muscle figure of 43 and a fat score of 8, as well as a micron of 21.7 and a comfort factor of 98.5 per cent.
Joining their team of eight purchases, it meant Rhodes Pastoral paid an average of $1488.
Mr Corker said they were confident their new team of rams would do the job back at home.
"This is the third year we've come to this sale," Mr Corker said.
"We like the figures which come with them, including the eye muscle and fat figures."
Another returning buyer was the volume buyer of the Prime SAMM portion of the sale, with Malcolm Crouch securing a team of 10 on behalf of NC Flugge & Co, Katanning.
Mr Crouch paid an average of $910 for his team, saying the easy care sheep suit the Flugge program.
"We've been buying here for a long time and we're set to mate 4000 ewes this coming year using SAMMs so we know they can bring in the results," Mr Crouch said.
Another volume buyer on the day was Russel McKay, Elders stud stock, bidding on behalf of return client PM & HB Crossley, Katanning.
Mr McKay said eye muscle, fat content and average bodyweights were what he was looking for as he selected a team of eight, paying an average of $1000.
Pingelly-based Miarunging Estate tallied up a team of five to be another volume buyer in the Prime SAMM catalogue, paying an average of $830, while RS & ND Garlick, Katanning and CH & JM O'Brien, Wickepin, each bought four sires under the hammer, averaging $755 and $600 respectively.
Elders auctioneer Roger Fris said the Prime SAMM catalogue presented well and sold accordingly.
"We were very happy with the clearance and average this year," Mr Fris said.
"There were a lot of returning buyers here today and they recognised the quality of the even team which was offered to them."