Selling more than 300 rams to a flurry of new and longstanding clients was a fitting way for Kurralea studs to celebrate two milestone years of ram breeding.
Ben, Lucy and Kim Prentice of Ariah Park held their annual on-property sale on Tuesday 30 September, with results reflecting both confidence in the Kurralea program and the current state of industry.
In what is the stud’s 50th year of breeding Poll Dorsets, and 25th year of White Suffolks, Kurralea offered and sold 302 rams for a total average of $1754 – an increase of more than $200 on last year’s average.
This included 136 Poll Dorset flock rams which sold to a top of $2750 and averaged $1612, and 136 White Suffolk rams which also topped at $2750, averaging $1357.
And it wasn’t just commercial clients out in force, with 15 stud Poll Dorset rams topping the sale at $10,000 and averaging $3633, while 15 White Suffolk stud sires averaged $3133 and sold to a top of $6500.
Ben said it was business as usual at the stud this year, which is no doubt one of the reasons it has experienced such longevity.
“It is always a bit of an unknown (the sale result), as sheep and lamb prices have been very strong, but also the season being pretty tough,” he said.
When it comes to the top-priced lots, Ben said it wasn’t always the case that his pick of the sale came out as the most in demand – but this year both sale-topping sires were the standouts of the drop for Ben as well.
Kurralea 240345 achieved the sale-high price of $10,000, purchased by Dennis Banks of Valed stud at Mt Mercer, Victoria.
The June 2024-drop ram was by Shirlee Downs 200002 and had an impressive Terminal Carcase Production Index Australian Sheep Breeding Value of 156, putting it in the top 15%.
The ram also had a post-weaning weight ASBV in the top 5%.
Ben described the ram as a “very complete” ram, with solid Lambplan figures.
“It was moderate sized, well put together, correct and clean-pointed, I would consider it a very good stud sire,” he added.
Volume buyers in the Poll Dorset line-up included the Cassidy family of Foylewood, Ariah Park, who purchased 10 rams at a $1550 average.
In the White Suffolks, the McDonald Brothers of Condobolin picked up 18 lots averaging $2250, while Shaw Agri Pty Ltd at Gundagai selected 26 rams for a $1627 average.
Buying across both breeds was Australian Food and Agriculture, who purchased 116 rams at an average price of $1403.
The top-priced White Suffolk ram, which made $6500, also went across the border to Victoria, this time to Janmac stud at Goroke.
Janmac co-principal Grant Hausler said he inspected the ram at Kurralea a few weeks prior to the sale and thought it was one of the best to come out of the stable.
“He is a son of Farrer 210024 (a ram purchased for $21,000), with a really good top line, full of meat and super clean,” he said.
“We’ve had good results with Kurralea genetics, and this ram is a good White Suffolk type with a good balance of figures across his traits.”
Those figures included a PWWT of 20, putting it in the top 1% on Lambplan, and a TCP of 152.
Ben said the commercial clients were chasing the style of ram they have been producing for half a century “large-framed, structurally correct, clean-pointed rams”, and that is exactly what they were able to bid so enthusiastically for on the day.
