Belmont Park Poll Merino sells to $5000

The stud presented a top line-up of 90 Poll Merino rams that expressed excellent wool and carcase traits which were backed up by good MerinoSelect Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) and buyers certainly appreciated it, bidding strongly throughout.

With good competition throughout the catalogue, Nutrien Livestock auctioneer Michael Altus had no problems finding new homes for the 90 rams offered.

By the end of the sale he had sold 87 of them under the hammer to 17 different buyers at an average of $1609, which was back slightly on last year.

In comparison, in last year's sale the stud sold 87 rams from 90 offered to a top of $11,000 and an average of $1769.

Nutrien Livestock, Wagin agent Peter Foley said once again the rams presented very well and the quality extended right through the catalogue.

"The stud continues to invest in its breeding program, including buying a semen share in a Glenlea Park ram this month and it is showing in the rams as they are continuing to improve every year," Mr Foley said.

"Along with investing in their breeding program, the implementation of ASBVs is also having an impact on both the rams presented in the sale and the results the stud is achieving.

"We are continuing to educate the clients in regards to the ASBVs and they are now starting to recognise the value of the ASBVs when it comes to selecting their rams which is a good reward for the stud.

"The sale was well supported yet again by long-standing clients and a couple of new ones which is pleasing to see as it means people are starting to recognise what the stud is doing.

"It was a solid sale throughout with buyers being able to buy rams at their respective budgets."

Recording the day's $5000 top price was an upstanding sire in lot nine.

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Mr Altus took an opening bid of $2000 on the big productive sire, which had already been used as a ram lamb in the stud and from there the price quickly rose.

Eventually it was client of close to 50 years, Viv Giles and her son Doug, T & V Giles, Newdegate, who were losing bidders on last year's top-priced ram, to prevail with the final bid at $5000.

Mr Giles said it was the ram's body which attracted them first to it.

"He has a great structure and shape and a sirey outlook," Mr Giles said.

"Along with his excellent carcase traits, he also has a good wool and the micron we wanted.

"We also had confidence to buy him, given the stud has already used him as a ram lamb."

The 108 kilogram, March shorn, shed-prepared ram is by Redoutes and it had June wool tests of 18.8 micron, 3.6 SD, 19.1 CV and 99.9 per cent comfort factor (CF).

On the ASBVs front, it ranks in the top 5pc for yearling clean fleece weight (YCFW) with a figure of 33.33 and top 20pc for post weaning weight (PWWT) with a figure of 7.16, while it had indexes values of 167.09 and 168.92 for the MP+ and DP+ indexes respectively.

Along with purchasing the top-priced ram, the Giles family also went to purchase three other rams, finishing with a team of four at a $3313 average.

Included in the team heading to Newdegate was a 104kg ram, which had also been used as a ram lamb in the stud and ranks in the top 20pc for PWWT, at $3250, and a 110kg, 18.8 micron ram which has a 154.63 MP+ and 168.04 DP+ indexes at $3000.

Mr Giles said they liked the Belmont Park bloodlines because the body shape and wool style of the stud's rams matched what they were trying to breed.

"They have good bodies and softness in the skin," Mr Giles said.

At the recent Newdegate Machinery Field Days, the Giles' won the champion medium fleece award and was one point off taking home the grand champion ribbon.

This year the family is looking to mate 3500 ewes all to Poll Merinos.

"We join all our ewes to Merinos now," Mr Giles said.

"We used to join some to crossbreds but moved away from doing that a few years ago as we found we could get equally rewarded for a Merino lamb as a crossbred lamb, but also because it gives us more ewes to use from."

The Giles family, which will start lambing in March, aims to start selling its wether lambs straight off their mothers as suckers at the end of August.

Mr Giles said they sold 600 wether lambs as suckers last week and they averaged 22.1kg dressed and $164 a head and they had another 600 to go in the coming weeks.

"We are a bit later this year selling than in the past but that is because of difficulty getting a booking at the abattoirs," he said.

The second top price was $3500 and it was pencilled into the clerking sheets twice.

The first to pay $3500 was DC & DM Kirby, Dudinin, when they secured a 108kg March shorn ram, which ranks in the top 20pc for PWWT and yearling weight (YWT).

The ram also had index values of 164.19 and 175.51 for the MP+ and DP+ indexes to go with wool test figures of 20.2 micron, 3.5 SD, 17.3 CV and 99.6pc CF.

The other buyer to go to $3500 was return buyer GA & WM Abbott, Wagin, when they reached this value for a long, stretchy, March shorn 98kg ram.

The ram had wool test figures of 18.2 micron, 2.9 SD, 15.9 CV and 100pc CF to go with ASBVs index values of 160.04 and 168.54 for the MP+ and DP+ indexes.

The Abbotts also purchased three more rams to finish with a team of four at an average of $2688.

Also part of the Abbott's team at $3000 was a 108kg ram which was sired by last year's sale topper.

This ram is in the top 20pc for the DP+ index, YWT, PWWT and YCFW.

Other clients buying strongly were DM & DJ Steele, Pingrup, which purchased two at $3000 and $2500, while BL & JH Kilpatrick, Wagin, averaged $2238 over a team of four and KR Rowell & Co, Wagin, purchased seven at a $2036 average.

Clients of more than 60 years, the Gillett family, Gillett Bros, Williams, purchased six rams at a $1958 average to join its Merino sire battery which will be joined to 3000 ewes.

Matt Gillett said they liked the Belmont Park rams as they were good all-round sheep with good fertility and wool cutting ability.

The volume buyer for the day was M Treloar & Co, Kukerin, which has been buying from the stud for five years.

They left a buying order with Belmont Park stud classer Courtney Sutherland and he worked his way through the catalogue, collecting 14 rams for the enterprise at an average of $1100.

Mr Sutherland said he was chasing long body rams with good lock structure and white waxy wools, as well as thickness of muscle.

The next biggest buyer behind the Treloars was Mr Foley, who purchased for his own family's operation, PJ & SM Foley, Wagin.

Mr Foley purchased eight rams at an average of $1456 and he said he was chasing rams by East Bungaree B28 because they had worked well for him before.

"They have good early growth and good eye muscle depths," Mr Foley said.

This year the Foleys will join 1300 ewes to Merinos for a June/July lambing.