SALE SUMMARY
360/360 Rams sold to a top of $10,600 & Avg. of $2250
15 Poll Dorset Studs – Top of $10,600 & Avg of $3850
162 Poll Dorset Flock Rams – Top of $3200 & Avg of $2030
15 White Suffolk Stud Rams – Top of $8200 & Avg of $3360
162 White Suffolk Flock Rams – Top $3000 & Avg of $2250
6 Suffolk Flock Rams – Top of $1200 & Avg of $1200
Kurralea Studs 25th annual on-property sale didn’t disappoint with a record 360 rams across three breeds setting a new stud sale average record of $2250, the highest average achieved at auction in the stud’s 48-year history.
Achieving a full clearance of the 30 Poll Dorset & White Suffolk Stud Rams & 330 Poll Dorset, White Suffolk & Suffolk flock rams offered at the Tuesday 27 September auction was a well-earned reward for the Prentice family. It capped off a wetter than average preparation season, and a fitting result for the studs’ 25th anniversary of sales held at the Ariah Park property.
Stud principal Ben Prentice said he was “rapt with the result”.
“We put up that number of rams with intention they would sell and to have the support from long term supporters and a number of new buyers who bought multiple rams on the day was better than we were hoping for”.
“Prices were solid throughout the catalogue and bidding held up consistently well right to the very last lot”, Mr Prentice said. “There was good value buying across all the stud and flock ram groups”.
A large crowd of interstate and local visitors filled the sale shed with over 15 keen buyers registered on AuctionsPlus and 75 bidders in the sale ring. Being able to travel freely this year stud and commercial buyers from as far as South Australia, Victoria and across NSW attended the sale to pick up their ram of choice.
Mr Prentice said, “The stud rams were a bit cheaper this year against other higher top priced years however the support from other breed studs was strong with 10 of the stud ram team selling to multiple stud operators.
The top priced ram, Lot 2, Tag 048-21T sold for $10,600 at the fall of the hammer and was successfully bought by long term supporters Grant & Bryce Hausler, Janmac Poll Dorset & White Suffolk Stud, Goroke, Victoria.
The Poll Dorset ram sired by K636-17 presented with a balanced set of ASBV’s with a Bwt of 0.58, Pemd of 1.62, Pwwt of 15.59, Pfat of -1.04 and TCP score of 138.90.
“We picked out the best overall balanced ram that suited our program and K048-21T fit what we were looking for”, said Grant Hausler, Janmac’s co-principal. “We are happy to have secured him”.
“He is a sound, strong boned, well-shaped ram with good hindquarter, clean head, and muscling’.
“Just a good Poll Dorset type.”
Mr Hausler said the ram would blend well through the Janmac program as the stud has a long history with Kurralea sheep. “We don’t chase extremes and have good success with Kurralea bred rams. They are very predictable sheep and do a great job for us”.
In the White Suffolk stud ram group Lot 18, Tag 620-21 picked up the top price White Suffolk honours selling to Tim & Marianne Ferguson, Mallee Park, Hopetoun in Victoria.
“This ram’s trueness to the White Suffolk type is initially what drew us to him”, said Tim Ferguson.
Travelling up to Kurralea prior to the sale to inspect the stud group, Mr Ferguson said Lot 18 fit the style of traditional White Suffolk sheep they were looking to buy.
“He has a good head, good hindquarters, a terrific set of ASBV’s and the carcass traits we feel are important”.
Lot 18, a Felix 465-19 son, has a TCP score of 153.95 sitting in the Top 5% of the breed, is in the top 10% for Pwwt at 17.46, the top 20% for Shear Force (SH5), with a Bwt of 0.56, Pfat of -0.92, and Pemd of 1.45.
Mr Ferguson added the ram has “plenty of length”.
“The Kurralea style of sheep are ‘true to type’ and will fit well into Mallee Park’s breeding programs”.
The Banks family took home two Poll Dorset rams from the stud draft picking up the 3rd top priced ram, Lot 1, Tag 252-21 for $7,600 and Lot 3, Tag 285-21T for $3,000. Both rams are going to their Mount Mercer property in Victoria.
There was spirited bidding right throughout the flock ram offering with the Harvey family group snapping up a combined total of 34 rams to use across their commercial operations throughout southern NSW.
“We’ve bought rams from Kurralea before & they are very good rams”, said Ross Harvey. “We try to buy the best and happy to pay good money for good quality”.
“The rams we bought on Tuesday were at the top of the run and their quality is reflected in the prices we were happy to pay.”
Mr Harvey added, “Ben and Lucy are very, very good people and we like to do business with good people”.
Leading the volume buyer group and almost hitting the century mark with an impressive total of 91 rams, long term clients Justin Campbell and Dave Marshall, Australian Food Ag group bought well with the large draft of rams going to the groups various commercial breeding operations.
Other volume buyers in the 10 to 20 ram group included the Cassidy Family, Ariah Park with 10 rams, the McDonald Brothers, Condobolin taking home 18 rams, and the Elwin family, Colinroobie, DB Ag, Ariah Park and new clients, Quinn & Cruikshank from Gainmain all successfully bidding on 10 rams each.
Speaking on behalf of the selling agents, auctioneer Joe Wilks, Wilks & McKean said it was a great crowd with lots of familiar faces and plenty of new faces.
“The number of new buying orders in the 1 to 20 rams group shows the confidence buyers have in the Kurralea program”.
“To hold the price from start to finish, to put up such a large volume of rams and achieve those prices is a huge credit to the Prentice Family and goes to show consistency of the line-up offered on Tuesday”.
Ben and Lucy Prentice said it was a fantastic result overall and again thanked successful purchasers & underbidders both in the sale shed & online, family, friends & supporters for making it a day to remember.
Auction conducted by Elders Livestock, Wilks & McKean Livestock & Property and interfaced with AuctionsPlus.
Courtesy Janine Elen
