It was a wild and woolly day, where the deluge of rain and strong winds saw roads blocked by trees, wash aways and power outages, however it wasn't enough to stop clients from competing for San-Mateo Poll Merino and Merino sires at the annual on-property ram sale at Brookton last week.
Offering a slightly-reduced line-up of 96 rams, consisting of 69 Poll Merino and 27 Merino rams, there were volume purchasers in abundance and all 17 registered buyers managed to secure their sire requirements.
San-Mateo stud principals Nigel and Damien Morrison were once again recognised for their commitment to breeding quality achieving solid averages, with strong competition on selected lots seeing the top price of $3000 achieved twice in the first line of pens in the shed.
As testament to the quality and depth on offer within the San-Mateo bloodlines, the two top-priced rams were purchased by other Merino stud breeders who were impressed with the way their own bloodlines had performed with the San-Mateo genetics.
Elders stud stock respective and San-Mateo stud classer, Nathan King, said the pleasing result was deserved by San-Mateo which has for many years been vigilant in its investment in genetics and is devoted to maintaining quality wool of the original San-Mateo stud while building better bodies.
"We are very pleased with the support of returning clients," Mr King said.
"There was one volume client who wanted a few less numbers wise, but this was because the older rams he had purchased from San-Mateo in the past were still doing well.
"This shows their quality and longevity, the things these sires are capable of and why there is a very strong client base at this sale.
"There are really two important takeaways from today's results and they are, even with the current market conditions, people are willing to pay good money for the rams they wanted and at the same time others were able to secure really good, quality genetics for an excellent price."
With this in mind, it is no wonder then that the top price of $3000 was reached for two Poll Merino sires, while the Merino top price was $1600 and the sale overall average was a very healthy $1267.
The Poll Merino average was $1404, while the Merino's was $939.
The first time the $3000 top price was reached was on the first ram to go under the hammer and this was purchased by Elders stud stock specialist Lauren Rayner on behalf of the King family, Warralea Poll Merino stud, Gairdner.
The ram was a big Poll Merino sire with measurements of 20.5 micron, 15.6 coefficient of variation (CV), 3.2 standard deviation (SD) and a 99.7 per cent comfort factor (CF).
Nathan King said he had discussed the performance of a Warralea sire, San-Mateo had purchased, with Warralea co-principal Jarrod King.
"I let him know how well the ram had been doing and he decided he wanted to bring some of that back with some different blood also back into Warralea," Mr King said.
Similarly Ms Rayner purchased on behalf of the Blight family, Seymour Park stud, Highbury, who purchased the equal top- priced $3000 ram and were likewise chasing the particular bloodline that was linked back to their own stud, which they also did at the previous year's sale.
The equal top price ram was lot 10 and had measurements of 20.0 micron, 15.5 CV, 3.1 SD and 99.7pc CF.
Mr King said the equal top-priced ram was a good syndicate ram and would be able to be put over a decent number of ewes.
Volume buyers were once again active throughout the catalogue being very particular with their selections, and knowing their purchases would perform well within their programs, they bought with confidence.
The overall volume buyers at the sale were once again repeat volume client Altas Farms, Calingiri, who were equalled with long-term volume client Michael Hughes, MA Hughes, Pingelly.
Atlas successfully secured 10 solely Poll Merino rams, to a top of $2900 and for an average of $2170.
While Michael Hughes and son Kallum, were the winning bidders on 10 solely Poll Merino sires to a top of $2100 and a $1270 average.
Atlas Farms, Calingiri, has been a regular buyer at the San-Mateo sale since 2017 and farm manager, Graham Barry, said their entire flock was based on San-Mateo bloodlines.
"We are mating about 3500 this year," Mr Barry said.
"We like the frame size and the consistency of the wool in the San-Mateo sheep.
"It is good wool for our higher rainfall area.
"We like the progeny on the ground and have been aiming at increasing the size of the sheep and the wool clip over time, which is what the San-Mateo sheep have been really good for."
Michael Hughes has been buying from San-Mateo stud for about 10 years and said they run a wholly Merino commercial flock.
"We like the wool type and frame size of the San-Mateo sheep," Mr Hughes said.
"Our ewes and lambs have an average micron of 19.0.
"We had our eye on lots five and nine and we managed to get number five.
"We liked the nice bright white wool on a big frame."
The top-priced Merino ram sold for $1600 and was purchased by longterm regular volume buyer Ellen Walker, Warranine Park, Brookton, who purchased a total of six Merino rams at the sale for an average of $1133.
The big Merino sire had measurements of 21 micron, 14.3 CV, 3 SD and 99.9pc CF.
Regular buyers, Chris and Brendan Luelf, Falconhurst Grazing, York, were once again volume buyers with their successful bids on nine solely Merino rams, all for $800 a head.
JE George & Co, Corrigin, are also regular volume buyers and they took home a total of eight Poll Merino rams, for an average of $1213.
San-Mateo stud co-principal Nigel Morison said they were happy with the results of the sale and thanked all their clients for their support.
