Agriculture
11 September, 2023
'Bale filler' rams up sale average
GRAZIERS looking for ram bloodlines to breed good cutting sheep helped achieve an increase in the average at Friday’s on-property sale at Kerrilyn Merino and Poll Merino Stud. Mt Hoogly farmer Brendon Lanfranchi paid top price of $3000 for the...
GRAZIERS looking for ram bloodlines to breed good cutting sheep helped achieve an increase in the average at Friday’s on-property sale at Kerrilyn Merino and Poll Merino Stud.
Mt Hoogly farmer Brendon Lanfranchi paid top price of $3000 for the poll twin with fleece measurement 18.1 micron, standard deviation of 2.7, coefficient variation of 15.1 and comfort factor of 99.7 per cent.
It was one of two rams purchased by Mr Lanfranchi who has been using rams with the Kerrilyn bloodline in his 3000 ewe flock for the past eight years.
“They help us grow good heavy cutters ... bale fillers,” he said of rams purchased at the Dunluce stud auction. Bridgewater’s Rob Pollock was top bidder on two poll rams.
“We still run a mixture of poll and horned but are gradually changing over.”
He has been buying Kerrilyn rams for 10 years for their good wool growth in a twice-yearly shearing cycle.
“The growth this season means we’ll probably start next month instead of waiting until December,” he said.
Murphys Creek’s Glenn Heather was another regular buyer, this year picking up two poll rams and a horned.
“They’re well suited to our land and give a good heavy cutting fleece,” he said.
Stud principal Norm Weir said the sale clearance reflected the current market - 34 of 50 lots were sold during the auction but several sold after bidding closed.
The sale average of $1420 was $15 up on last year and Mr Weir said that had been achieved without a high volume buyer.
“After a few sold out or switched to cropping in recent years, we have been without those couple of buyers looking for a large number of new rams,” he said.
“However, we had two new buyers this year from the Victoria Valley (the Grampians area) and a lot of returning farmers from across the local district.
“While the auction clearance was a little disappointing, that’s where the industry is at just now. You can’t expect much else at the moment,” Mr Weir said.