A GOOD season in the Gairdner area was displayed through the King family's Warralea Poll Merino sires at their annual on-property ram sale.
A total of 103 big, deep-bodied rams with a soft-handling and bright, white wools filled the shed attracting local and afar buyers who were eager to secure the Warralea genetics and take in the King family's hospitality.
Strong buyer support from both return and new buyers saw the registered buyers list reach 25 and with spirited bidding they helped the stud achieve a 95 per cent clearance of the 103 rams offered under the hammer.
This year's sale averaged $2241 for the 98 rams sold, which was up $518 on last year'\s average of $1723, while the top price of $6000 increased $2000 in comparison to last year's top-price of $4000.
Pleased with the outcome of the Warralea sale was Elders Albany representative Nigel Hawke.
"There were two or three new buyers at the sale which was great to see and this helped the final sale result to be better than expectations," Mr Hawke said.
"Extra support from regular and return buyers gave an excellent clearance and a great average price to finish the sale off."
When Elders stud stock representative and auctioneer Nathan King knocked down the top-priced ram in pen four to Nathan Willmott, AM & TL Willmott, Tambellup, for a soaring high of $6000, it set the tone for the sale early.
The Willmott family bought one more ram in the sale for $3000, taking home a team of two at an average of $4500.
Their $6000 top-priced ram was a well-structured sire with wool figures of 18.1 micron, 3.4 SD, 17.3 CV and 99.6 per cent comfort factor (CF) and scans of 4.9mm for fat and 34mm for eye muscle depth (EMD).
MORE RAM SALE STORIES:
Mr Willmott said it was their second year purchasing from the stud.
"We bought for the first time last year," Mr Willmott said.
"We were really happy with the drop of lambs we got so we decided to come back again this year."
Mr Willmott also stated they look for good structure when selecting rams.
"We also tend to look for bright white wooled rams," Mr Willmott said.
The second top-priced ram sold for $4000 to Valemarie, Cranbrook.
It had wool figures of 16.7 micron, 3.2 SD, 18.9 CV and 99.6pc CF, as well as scans of 4.4mm fat and 37mm EMD.
The Cranbrook farmers managed to secure a team of three rams at an average price of $2800.
Volume buyers in the offering, taking home just under a quarter of the sale's offering (24 in total) was Kim Bunce, KA Bunce & Co, Bokal.
The Bunce family paid a top of $3000, twice, and an average of $2479.
Mr Bunce said he has been buying from the stud for eight years.
"We look for a strong ram with good conformation and bright white wool," Mr Bunce said.
Mr Bunce prefers to steer clear of rams with bare heads.
"Rams with bare heads tend to have bare legs too," Mr Bunce said.
"When it comes to micron, we select something in the 19 micron range."
Also buying a large volume of rams was KD Power Pastoral Co, which loaded up eight rams after the sale, averaging $2537 and paying to a top of $3000.
Wellstead farmers, Moir & Co Pty Ltd, were not too far behind when they secured seven quality rams to a top of $2400 and averaged at $1929.
Also securing a team of seven rams was Millstream Pastoral, Manypeaks, finishing with a total average of $1286 and paying a top of $1800, twice.
The next volume buyer, HJ & NG Milne, took home a trailer load of six back to their property at Borden at an average price of $2667 and paid a top of $3100.
Purchasing two rams, pen 71 and pen 94, for an average of $2750 was Gary Walter, Killarney Farms.
The $2600 ram in pen 71 was offered by the Warralea stud with all proceeds from its sale going to the Shearing For Liz Pink Day fundraising initiative for breast cancer research.
That particular ram had wool figures of 20.1 micron, 2.8 FDSD, 13.8 FDCV and had fat scans of 4mm, an EMD of 37.5mm and a 99.6pc CF.
Pleased with the outcome of the sale was Warralea stud's co-principal Jarrod King.
"It was a fantastic sale," Mr King said.
"It was great to see our loyal clients come back and purchase rams as well as some new clients too."
Mr King also admitted that it was great to see the confidence in the sheep industry.
"It's good to see, considering the way cropping is heading at the moment due to fertiliser prices," he said.
"It's positive to see people are still keen on their sheep and eager to keep the wool industry going."
