Tattykeel Aussie White ram sells for $165,000 in new record

A new Australian record has been set by a meat sheep breed, with an Aussie White ram selling for a whopping $165,000.

A new Australian record has been set by a meat sheep breed, with Tattykeel Australian White stud selling a sire for $165,000 on-property yesterday at Oberon.

The mega-sale grossed more than $5.6 million with 103 joined ewes fetching a top of $24,000 or $9311 average and 55 unjoined ewes sold to $11,000 and average of $7018.

In the rams, all 30 stud rams sold to the top of $165,000 and average of $39,533 while a further 210 flock rams fetched a top of $26,000 and average of $14,762.

The sale topper, Tattykeel White Gold 200131, was bought by Flaxley Australian White Sheep, Flaxley, South Australia. The successful bidders, David and Natalia Ellingsen, purchased the ram through AuctionsPlus.

The ram was an April 2020-drop and weighed 119 kilograms.

Aussie Whites have gone from strength to strength in the past decade, with now more than 400 studs registered.

Yesterday’s price was more than three times the previous record set last year when Ardene purchased Magnum from Tattykeel for $53,000.

Mr Ellingsen said the new record price was likely to ”make the breed a household name”.

“We see our Australian White sheep as a great way to be involved in the infancy of livestock breeding,” Mr Ellingsen said.

“They are unique among the Australian livestock industry as numerous other breeds have been combined to create this refined bloodline.

“They are a true meat sheep, with Australian White sheep having been referred to as the Wagyu of the lamb industry.

“Tattykeel laid the foundations for success.

“At Flaxley we want to take advantage of the best genetics available for the growth of our flock and the bloodline.”

Tattykeel principal Graham Gilmore and family developed the breed by selecting key traits within the Poll Dorset, White Dorper, Texel and Van Rooy breeds to develop a low maintenance and self-replacing sheep.

Mr Gilmore told The Weekly Times the rise of the Australian Whites was a “reset of the sheep industry”.

A former-shearer who “busted my back shearing sheep”, Mr Gilmore, and his late brother Martin developing the wool-free haired Australian White sheep to remove the cost and worry of managing a fleece — and the animal husbandry workload that came with it — in the mid 2000s.

“The first crossing was in 2008 and it’s been a meteoric rise since then,” Mr Gilmore said.

“That success has been through focused embryonic transfer and artificial insemination, plus a lifetime of breeding experience.”

This prices comes after a huge result was recorded in the Merino industry last week by Collinsville in SA.

That stud relived its glory days by recording an Australian on-property Merino record of $88,000 for a Poll Merino.