Corriedale Blue Ribbon sale: Rams sell to $3100 at Ballarat
Risk management has been front of mind for wool producers buying rams at an impressive sheep sale at Ballarat, the auctioneer says. This is why he reckons big money is being spent on Corriedales.
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THE dual-purpose ability of the Corriedale sheep breed was on display at the Blue Ribbon Corriedale sale at Ballarat yesterday, where rams sold up to $3100.
Nutrien Ag Solutions stud stock auctioneer Andrew Sloan said that with the wool market turbulence over the past 12 months, producers were looking to spread their risk more with a dual-purpose sheep.
“The buyers were really looking for that premium stud quality with good wool and the Corriedales are truly a dual-purpose sheep,” Mr Sloan said.
The multi-vendor sale sold 20 rams of the 38 offered with an average of $1435 for a pass-in rate of 52 per cent. The average price is one of the best achieved, up $113 on last year’s sale, which averaged $1322 for 22 Corriedale rams sold.
The top-priced ram was sold by Gambier View Corriedale stud at Derrinallum for $3100. The 12-month-old ram weighed 85kg and measured a 26.3-micron fleece.
“We bought him to put over our Suffolks,” buyer Tegan Ward, from Tegrhon Corriedales, at Pakenham, said.
“He’s got the good bloodlines behind him and he’s got the wool and structure as well.”
Gambier View stud principal Milton Savage said he was “absolutely rapt” with the prices with saw a 100 per cent clearance for their five rams offered ahead of their on-property sale early next week.
“We’ve been focusing a lot on the structure of the sheep and that’s what stood out about the rams we offered I think.”
Long term vendors Sweetfield stud at Mount Moriac have been selling at the Corriedale Blue Ribbon sale for 10 years and cleared four of their six rams offered to a volume buyer.
All four were bought by Sizzledale with Southern Grampians Livestock and will be used in a commercial crossbred flock to build the carcass traits of their flock while maintaining a low-micron wool.
Sweetfield Co Stud principal Leigh Ellis and partner Casey Tomkins said they were pleased with the bidding which attracted some new buyers this year.
“We pride ourselves on the structure of the rams so all of these guys were deep, long-carcassed animals carrying a dense, mid-micron fleece,” Mr Ellis said.
Rams were sold back into Western Victoria with some going to the Grampians, Hamilton and locally.
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