Kurralea Studs sold 100 per cent of rams at their on-property Poll Dorset, White Suffolk and Suffolk sale at Ariah Park last Tuesday.
In the breakdown 14 Poll Dorset stud rams sold to a top of $5250 twice to average $3146, 15 White Suffolk stud rams sold to a top of $3000 and average of $2053, 129 Poll Dorset flock rams sold to a top of $2200 and average of $3146, 132 White Suffolk flock rams sold to a top of $1800 and average of $1800, and four Suffolk flock rams sold for $1000 each.
In total all 294 rams sold to an average of $1573.
Ben Prentice, Kurralea, said he was very happy to clear all the rams.
“We cut back numbers by about 60 this year with it being a tough season,” he said.
“We were really pleased to be able to sell them all – it was a bit of an unknown.”
One of the top-priced Poll Dorset rams was tag number 223-22 sold for $5250 to Cambrai Farming, Trungley Hall.
The May 2022-drop ram, sired by Shirlee Downs 002-20 and out of Kurralea 001-16, had Australian sheep breeding values (ASBVs) of +0.6 for birthweight (BWT), +16.7 for post-weaning weight (PWWT), -1.3 for post-weaning fat (PFAT), +0.8 for post-weaning eye muscle depth and a terminal carcase production (TCP) index of 139.
Mr Prentice said the ram was very structurally correct and a real stud sire.
Chris Hartwig, Cambrai, said the ram stood out and was nice and clean on points.
Mr Hartwig said the ram would be used in their small Dorset stud, of about 100 ewes, where they breed rams to go over their own ewes.
The other Poll Dorset stud ram matching the top-price of $5250 was tag number 433-22 sold to Janmac Poll Dorset Stud, Goroke, Vic.
The June 2022-drop ram, sired by Kurralea 027-19 and out of Kurralea 120-19, had figures of +0.7 BWT, +17.3 PWWT, -1.2 PFAT, +1.0 PEMD and +139.8 TCP.
The top-priced White Suffolk ram was tag number 326-22 sold for $3000 to Jake Hamblin, Matong.
The May 2022-drop ram, sired by Farrer 075-20 and out of Kurralea 183-19, had figures of +0.4 BWT, +15.2 PWWT, -1.0 PFAT, +1.5 PEMD and +143.9 TCP.
Mr Prentice said he had real stud sire appeal and was a very bare pointed ram.
“And with a good balance of Lambplan figures to go with it,” he said.
Mr Hamblin said he liked the bare points of the ram, which will be used to go over Dorper composite ewes in his commercial flock of about 500 ewes.
The sale was underpinned by strong support from Australian Food and Agriculture, Boonoke, Deniliquin, who purchased 111 rams.
The sale was conducted by AWN Wilks McKean and Elders.
Story courtesy Alexandra Bernard, The Land
