FORTY years of dryland farming east of Katanning ended for Terry Blake with the Ewlyamartup clearing sale conducted by Elders on February 25.
For Mr Blake and his wife Chris, the sale paved the way to beginning their retirement at Dunsborough, but for son Kallum, who had been back on Ewlyamartup for the past 10 years, it marked the start of a new and as yet uncertain era.
"I don't know what I'm going to do just yet," said Kallum Blake who, like his father, has long involvement with WAFarmers where he was a grains council member and a former board member.
He also served two terms on GrainGrowers' national policy committee.
"I'll look for another job over the next 12 months, I've had plenty of offers," Mr Blake said.
"I might go and do a seeding with a mate and bits and pieces," he said.
"Dad's been here for 40 years, he bought the place with his brother and another couple and over the years bought the partners out."
Near neighbours made them an offer on the 1000 hectare property last year which they accepted, Mr Blake said.
"They're only young guys, about my age, giving it (farming) a fair old crack," he said.
Mr Blake said while he and his father were preparing for the sale they learned his sister, Tamara, had lost her home just north of Gidgegannup in the recent bushfires.
"Hers went up fairly early in the piece, about 4.30pm on the Monday," he said.
"She rang to let us know it was in the path (of the bushfire) when we were in the shed preparing stuff.
"We felt a bit rotten because there was nothing we could do to help her.
"Even if we'd left immediately, we wouldn't have got there in time to help.
"It was a bit of a kick in the guts."
Mr Blake said he was satisfied with the mixed sale results.
"It's quite interesting actually, some bigger items didn't sell - selling headers at this time of the year is a hard slog," he said.
"But other major items like the stock crate and excavator sold and sold well."
The 12 metre convertible - four decks sheep, two decks cattle - stock trailer Mr Blake has used for a stock transport business, sold for $56,000 before GST, making it the top-priced item of the Ewlyamartup sale.
It was purchased by Lachlan Patterson, Bullock Hills Pastoral, Woodanilling.
The Patterson family runs a Simmental cattle stud and a self-replacing Merino flock of about 4000 breeding ewes across their main property north of Woodanilling and several satellite properties.
"Kallum's carted stock for us for a few years now and he let us know he was selling the crate and we've got plenty of opportunities to use it carting our own stock to market and just across the property," Mr Patterson said.
"We've got a prime mover we use for grain carting and other things, so this will complement that."
He said the dry year last year had highlighted an advantage in being able to move their own stock between properties to utilise the best water and feed available.
The second top-priced item, a long undercarriage 1998 Caterpillar 320L excavator with general purpose, trenching, ripper, rock and batter buckets, attracted plenty of attention.
In the end it went to Fitton & Sons, Dumbleyung, for $41,000.
The third top-priced item was a 22 tonne Finch field bin which went to Brett Waldock Family Trust, Quindanning, for $35,500.
Bargain of the sale was a near-new Clipex sheep handler with lead-up race and scales which had been purchased by the Blakes just before the Ewlyamartup property was sold.
It was passed in at $24,000, but sold privately before the sale ended for $25,000.
At the other end of the scale, a bargain for $30 was a complete 1970s International ACCO tandem drive tipper, even if the cab was rusty.
A rusty 1970s F250 Ford tray truck with V8 petrol motor sold for $1000 and two mid-1960s Austin 560F trucks also sold - the diesel engine one for $20 and the petrol engine model for $10.
A 2014 4X4 Holden Colorado dual-cab ute with 287,354 kilometres on the clock sold for $10,200 after a bidding duel.
A TPW wool press in good condition sold for $5300 and the same buyer, Capper Holdings Pty Ltd, also bought a wool table for $110.
Several old wool presses sold for between $10 and $100 and various other old farm items and implements sold well on the basis they were destined to become garden ornaments or 'man cave' adornments.
The rusty remains of a vintage Fordson tractor sold for $600, old steel tractor wheels and an old tractor fuel tank sold for $260, an old mouldboard plough sold for $200 and one of a pair of sadly dilapidated ground-drive Sunshine harvesters that were originally horse drawn, sold for $50.
A three-section Flexi-Coil 820 seeder bar and Bourgault 2130 seed bin sold for $6500 and another Flexi-Coil 820 seeder bar the Blakes had purchased for parts for their seeder, sold to a different buyer for $50.
A Case IH 7140 front-wheel-assist tractor with dual rear wheels and 10,980 hours sold for $17,000 and a big John Deere 8650 tractor with dual wheels and good tyres, 8540 hours and a rebuilt fuel pump, sold for $10,000.
But the main items, a 2005 John Deere 9760 header with 4734 engine hours, 3358 rotor hours and a 12m Macdon D60 front with trailer, plus an accompanying Cole chaff cart with draper belt feed, long drawbar to clear header auger and straw chopper, were passed in at $30,000 and $5000 respectively.
A JCB 8250 Fastrac tractor with 8465 hours on the engine, new fuel injectors, three-point-linkage tow hitch and set up with a front mount to carry a fire unit, was passed in without a bid at $34,000 towards the end of the auction.
Similarly, the next lot, a New Holland BB960A large square hay bailer offered by outside vendor GM & DL Garlick, was also passed in without a bid, but at $24,000.
Of the 359 lots offered, 277 were sold and the net result before GST was $383,235.
Elders' Katanning agent Russell McKay, who organised the sale with three auctioneers Roger Fris, James Culleton and Steele Hathway, described it as "an excellent sale with good crowd participation and a good clearance".
"We're pretty happy with the result for the vendor with somewhere over 200 (bidder) registrations," he said.
"We had two of our young auctioneers (Mr Culleton and Mr Hathway) here today and they really are the rising stars of our industry."
