Stud and commercial Merino breeders were in force at the Roseville Park Merino ram sale, near Dubbo, on Thursday, positioning the stud as a major influence in the Merino industry with rams being sold to six states.
Over 85 registered buyers, including over 20 studs, bid on the rams resulting in a full clearance of 235 rams for an average of $3817 which was an on-property sale record for Matthew and Cherie Coddington and family, and up $808 on last year's sale.
All 100 Merino rams sold to a top of $18,000 to average $3920, while 135 Poll Merino rams sold to $22,000 to average $3741.
RELATED READING: Roseville Park Merinos 2020 sale results
Buyer of the $22,000 top-priced Poll Merino ram was Roger Glover from Mallibee Merinos, Wannamal, WA.
Elders stud stock specialist, Scott Thrift, bought the ram on behalf of Mr Glover and said he had noticed the ram as a stand-out back in July for his size and wool producing qualities.
The ram RP20-0010 was sired by the $31,000 highest priced ram sold at auction in NSW last year; RP18-0043. RP20-0010 had a body weight of 111.5 kilograms, a micron of 17.6 and greasy fleece weight (GFW) percentage of 170pc.
His Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) were +37 for yearling clean fleece weight (YCFW), +0.4 for yearling fat (YFAT), +5.2 for yearling weight (YWT), Merino Production Plus (MP+) Index 185 and Dual Purpose Plus (DP+) Index 181.
Four rams were sold for the second top price of $18,000, including three rams out of the eight removed from the National Merino Sale which was cancelled due to COVID. Kicking off the Roseville Park sale, the national sale rams averaged $14,000.
The top sell at $18,000 was lot 2A, a Poll Merino ram which was sold to AMG Grazing, Guyra. An ET-bred son of RP17-3116 that had been used already in the stud - with lambs weaned by him this month - he had an 18.5-micron fleece, GFW percentage of 228pc and weighed 140kg, with industry leading ASBVs of +51.3 for YCFW, +6.4 for YWT, a MP+ Index of 231 and a DP+ Index of 216.
Lot 3A, RP19-0061, a Merino ram also sold for $18,000 to Kurrajong Park Merinos, Delungra. He was also an ET-bred ram which weighed 152kg with a 18.0-micron and a 219pc GFW percentage. ASBV's were YCFW +40, YWT +3.4, MP+ 197 and DP+ 170.
Peter Moore of Blink Bonnie stud and Neil Doherty of Ronjabar stud paid $18,000 for lot 4A, another horned ram sired by RP16-1745. He was a 17.3-micron ram that weighed 136kg with a GFW percentage of 142pc.
The $18,000 top-priced Merino, one-year-old ram was lot 5, bought by ALD Waratah, Berrigan. An ET-bred son of Y17-0193, he weighed 117.5kg with a micron of 17.9 and GFW percentage of 157pc.
Russell and Jenny Jones, Darriwell Poll Merino stud, Trundle, paid $18,000 for their Poll sire, an ET-bred son of RP17-3116, out of Roseville Park's top donor ewe RP13-0400. Weighing 110kg, the 17.7-micron ram had a GFW percentage of 107.3pc and ASBVs of YCFW +30.3, YFAT +0.8 YWT +5.6, MP+ 184 and DP+ 183.
RELATED READING: Darriwell hits a hefty $20,000
The Jones family also bought another Poll sire for $15,000, A feature lot of the sale weighing in at 120kg, the ram had a 15.3-micron, GFW percentage of 164pc, and ASBVs of YWT +10.1 PWT +6.6, YCFW +37 and MP+ Index 206 and DP+ Index 196.
The Kelly family of Kilbournie Pastoral Co, Caloola, bought a poll ram for $16,000. They are running a sire evaluation program this year for MerinoLink on their property, which will lamb down progeny of 15 different sires from across the industry for analysis over two years and have also done a genomic flock profile on their flock to improve their genetics for key production traits within their flock.
Roseville Park principal, Matthew Coddington, said his family was very pleased with the sale result.
"It's a fantastic average because it's the most rams that we have ever put up for sale at one place and another 25 rams extra than last year," he said.
"We have had the numbers and the data to work with over the last few years due to us now breeding and measuring 1400 rams annually, with 1000 rams being available for sale to ram buyers who can see big even lines of sheep to select from."
Mr Coddington said the interstate demand was very high and he thought it reflected on his closer communication with those clients due to the pandemic.
"From discussions with clients, we realised that we were going to have very strong demand for poll rams in the sale and in particular poll rams which tested under 19 micron and had high ASBVs for fat and muscle which breeders in the south are chasing more for lamb survivability and fertility," he said.
"The other key selling point is our white, waterproof wools that can handle a lot of rain. There are not a lot of Poll Merino sheep that can handle wet conditions. The demand now is so high for these types of rams that we will sell out of most of our Poll merino rams within the next week.
Returning clients Sam Kelly, FJ Kelly Trust, Red Hill, Bowning, bought 16 poll rams for a $3250 average, and James and Charles Maslin, Caragabal West, Caragabal, bought 21 rams for a $1810 average, while Bolong River Pastoral, Golspie, also bought 16 rams for an average of $2625, paying up to $5000 for a 100kg, 19.6-micron, trait-leading son of RP17-3116.
Selling agents were Elders and Nutrien, Dubbo, with auctioneer Paul Dooley, Tamworth.
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