Kurralea Studs sold 100 per cent of rams at their on-property Poll Dorset, White Suffolk and Suffolk sale at Ariah Park last Tuesday.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
In total all 294 rams sold to an average of $1573.<\/p>\n
Ben Prentice, Kurralea, said he was very happy to clear all the rams.<\/p>\n
“We cut back numbers by about 60 this year with it being a tough season,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We were really pleased to be able to sell them all – it was a bit of an unknown.”<\/p>\n
One of the top-priced Poll Dorset rams was tag number 223-22 sold for $5250 to Cambrai Farming, Trungley Hall.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mr Prentice said the ram was very structurally correct and a real stud sire.<\/p>\n
Chris Hartwig, Cambrai, said the ram stood out and was nice and clean on points.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The top-priced White Suffolk ram was tag number 326-22 sold for $3000 to Jake Hamblin, Matong.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mr Prentice said he had real stud sire appeal and was a very bare pointed ram.<\/p>\n
“And with a good balance of Lambplan figures to go with it,” he said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The sale was underpinned by strong support from Australian Food and Agriculture, Boonoke, Deniliquin, who purchased 111 rams.<\/p>\n
The sale was conducted by AWN Wilks McKean and Elders.<\/p>\n