Chittleborough family's Crystal Brook Australian White makes $2400 at ram sale at Bridgetown

The cold weather didn't deter buyers from gathering at the property to inspect the rams and ewes on offer and also enjoy the Chittleborough family's spread of food, refreshments and friendly hospitality.

The family offered three Australian White lamb dishes for lunch and offered a raffle to buyers who purchased in the sale.

For every $2000 spent in the sale put purchasers in a draw to win a stud ewe and lamb package.

Elders auctioneer and Katanning representative James Culleton said it was his first time auctioneering the sale and he was impressed by the presentation of the sheep.

"The presentation of the offering was great overall," Mr Culleton said.

"There was some good bidding competition throughout the sale."

The stud offered a total of 64 rams and 48 ewes, which was more ewes than last year's sale.

The ewes were the first to sell in the offering with prices reaching a high of $1600, twice.

Both of the top-price ewes sold to Louis Grobbelaar, Secret Harbour.

The first ewe to sell was an August 2021-drop and weighed 49 kilograms and the second ewe was a September 2021-drop weighing in at 51kg.

Mr Grobbelaar said that it was his first time buying from the stud and that he is starting to get into the farming game.

"My fiancé and I are wanting to get into the farming lifestyle," Mr Grobbelaar said.

"At the moment we will keep the ewes we bought on a friends property at Mundijong.

"With the sale coming up we decided to buy the genetics while we could, so that when it's time for us to move we have the sheep already."

Mr Grobbelaar said he was at Mr Chittleborough's sale last year with a friend and decided he would return this year to purchase his own.

"The ewes are in really good shape in terms of their confirmation," he said.

"They aren't too big which is what we were after as well.

"They lamb at a high rate too and the meat is brilliant, which we tasted at the sale today which was great."

Mr Grobbelaar said he loved that the Australian White was a hardy breed.

"We are paying for quality to start off on the right foot," he said.

"In the future going forward, ideally we would love to potentially start our own small stud."

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Mr Grobbelaar rounded out his sales for the day with two additional ewes, taking his team of four's average to $1350.

Volume buyers in the ewe offering was Red Plains Pastoral Co, Kirup, which took home 15 ewes at an average of $1000.

Another buyer eager to secure the Crystal Brook genetics was Jackie Sept, Coolup, who loaded up seven ewes after the sale at an average of $1057.

Next up were the rams and it was an April 2022-drop ram weighing 106kg that took out the top price of $2400, paid by Esperance buyer, Wes Graham through AuctionsPlus.

Mr Graham said it was his first time buying from the stud and the first time buying the Australian White breed too.

"We thought we would have a try at the breed," Mr Graham said.

"From the videos we saw before the sale he looked like what we would be interested in buying.

"He has a nice thickness and depth of body."

Mr Graham said they were trialling the breed at the moment and would put the rams over some of his Poll Dorset stud ewes.

"We are trialling due to issues in the shearing industry going forward, so a trial into a shedding breed for our prime lamb operation could be a good change," he said.

"That ram seems like a typical type of the Australian White breed and we are happy with him."

The second top-priced ram was purchased by David Kain, Basildene Farms, Arthur River, at $2200.

Mr Kain, who also bought a second ram for $1800, said that it was his second time purchasing from the stud.

"Our top-priced purchase was a very nice ram, they both were," Mr Kain said.

"When selecting rams I tend to look for good confirmation and shedding ability, which both these rams have."

Mr Kain said the rams would be used over shedding ewes at his property.

"We will keep the good progeny from these rams," he said.

"We will decipher which lambs we will keep, through our classing system."

There were three buyers who purchased teams of four rams in the ram offering, starting off with a group of rams heading to a Wheatbelt client.

This buyer paid an average of $1400 and to a top of $1600, twice.

Next up was David Smart, Boddington, who paid an average of $1250 for his four rams and to a top of $1400.

Last to take home a team of four rams was KP & RK Marinoni, Kojonup, paying $1200 for all of its selections.

Trailling closely behind was Galloway Springs, Bridgetown and Ricetti Bros, Darkan, which both bought teams of three rams each, at an average of $1200.

Happy with the outcome of the sale was Crystal Brooks stud principal Laurie Chittleborough.

"The sale went better than I expected," Mr Chittleborough said.

Mr Littleborough said there were a lot more of the breed on the market this year.

"Because of this we were a bit anxious leading up to the sale," he said.

"We are endeavouring to continue to breed better rams in the future."

Mr Chittleborough said the stud had improved in more ways than one.

"We have improved in terms of the shedding ability on the sheep, with more solid structures and depth and breadth of the ram's chests," he said.