Naracoorte first-cross ewe sale: Another record broken

A new record was set at Naracoorte — try and keep up. Here are the prices and respective buyers.

Big sheep with a huge reputation have shattered the first-cross ewe record after selling for $538 a head at Naracoorte in South Australia today.

The first-cross ewe sale, often touted as the premier crossbred ewe market in Australia, lived up to expectations to go higher than recent celebrated records of $516 set at Bendigo last week and $502 at Corowa in southern NSW last month.

Naracoorte sheep sale

The price was paid for a pen of 110 ewes aged 16-17 months and bred by Trevor, Judy and Lachie James of the Coolawang Pastoral Company at Mundulla. The ewes boasted a massive average weight of 84kg liveweight, the heaviest ewe tipping the scales at more than 90kg.

It stems from their genetics, with Coolawang being a noted Border Leicester stud and the first-cross ewes bred out of big South Australian Merinos.

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The Coolawang ewes have repeatedly topped the Naracoorte sale, including last year when a pen of 114 ewes made $472, and also ticked all the boxes for animal health treatments, including being mulesed, tail-stripped and Gudair Vaccinated.

Elders agent Josh Reeves, who assessed the line for the AuctionsPlus catalogue, said the ewes standout even among the high standard of the Naracoorte yarding.

“They were the best sheep by an absolute mile,” he said.

Naracoorte sheep sale

However, sales above $500 were rare at Naracoorte, mirroring recent markets with few buyers prepared to push into this price territory.

Prices so far — the sale is still going — show most of the lead ewes from $440 to $480 which puts it in similar territory to Bendigo last week.