THE first Babanginy/Bridge- town Whites ram sale auction turned out to be a huge success when it was held at the Kojonup showgrounds on Monday.
The Norris and Muir families filled the shed with an impressive line-up of 68 young, quality Australian White rams that seemed to be highly sought after by both local, southern and inland buyers from as far north as Beverley.
Buyers braved the wet weather and were eager to secure the Babanginy/Bridge- town White genetics, resulting in an under the hammer clearance of 79 per cent at an average of $1900.
Nutrien Livestock, Kojonup representative Geoff Daw was thrilled at the result the vendors received at the completion of the sale.
"It was a very pleasing outcome considering it was their first auction sale," Mr Daw said.
"There were lots of new clients and some return clients from previous years, but predominantly new clientele."
Mr Daw said the sheep were very well-presented and it was an even line-up of rams.
"We look forward to having another sale next year," he said.
Buyers and underbidders pushed the price of the top-priced ram in pen four to $4100, setting the sale of the tone early.
The pen four gem was purchased by Perup buyers Kent and Nicole Muir, Wyndarra Grazing.
It weighed 92 kilograms, had a 5.8kg birth weight (BWT), a fat scan of 7.3mm and a 32.4mm eye muscle depth (EMD).
Mr Muir said he has bought from one of the co-stud principal's Mark Norris in the past.
"We select mainly on the visual appearance of the ram and look for a good carcase but recently we have looked at figure work a bit too," he said.
Mr Muir runs 1000 Dorper ewes on his property but now has a nucleus flock of 30 Dorper ewes.
"We are in the midst of using the nucleus flock to transition into Australian Whites," he said.
"That's why we needed a good sire from the sale today and selected the ram in pen four, he had what we were looking for."
The Muirs rounded out their purchases for the day with a $3000 ram in pen 31, taking their average to $3550.
The second top-price ram in pen 29 was purchased by a Bridgetown buyer.
This ram weighed in at 85kg, had a 5.9kg BWT, a 7.8mm fat scan and an EMD of 35mm.
Volume buyer in the offering was Wayne Littleton, AM Littleton & Son, Williams, who managed to take home a total of 10 rams at an average of $1700.
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Mr Littleton paid a top of $2000 for a ram in pen seven that weighed 76.5kg, had a 5.1kg BWT, a fat scan of 6.4mm and an EMD of 30.6mm.
Trailing closely behind, finishing off the sale with a team of eight rams was Seafields Grazing, which paid an average of $1494 and to a top of $1700.
Manjimup buyers WA & EB Hall were also keen to secure the genetics, paying a top of $2700 and an average of $1780 for five rams.
Their $2700 top-priced ram weighed 82kg, had a BWT of 5.6kg, with a fat scan of 6.9mm and an EMD of 32.3mm.
Mordalup Pastoral Co, Kojonup, loaded up four rams after the sale at an average of $1825, topping at $2300.
Three more buyers selected teams of four rams each, including Springhill, Quindanning, averaging $1700, Yandilla Trust, Kojonup, which averaged $1625 and Sergio Libera, Kojonup, averaging at $1500.
Tonebridge buyers Tone Park Farms scooped up three rams before the sale ended, paying to a top of $1700 and an average of $1567.
Goldfields trading, Donnybrook, took home two rams, selecting from the top half of the catalogue, paying $2600 and $2800.
Stud co-principal Mark Norris spoke on behalf of the Babanginy stud and was ecstatic with how their first sale went.
"We are overall really happy with the outcome of the sale today," Mr Norris said.
Although Mr Norris admits they have had a lot of stops and starts along the way, they are happy to finally host a sale and get both themselves and the Babanginy name out there.
"We have put lots of time and effort into genetics to really try and get our nucleus flock right," he said.
"We are aiming to produce a type of ram that sits between a sustainable flock ram with good shedding and good feet as well as a good carcase."
Mr Norris said in the future they wanted to improve the meat on the sheep and find a good place in the market next to the other breeds, such as Dorpers.
