Nudies popular at Cashmore Oaklea performance maternals sale

Nudie ewes led the pack at the second Cashmore Oaklea performance maternal sale of the year on Thursday.

More than 8000 ewes and ewe lambs were offered online by multiple vendors, following a successful sale in November which saw 4000 sheep presented.

Thursday's sale saw 12 vendors, which ran operations in Victoria and South Australia, sell some of their top female genetics.

All sheep were bred from Cashmore Oaklea stock with white maternal composite wool ewes and shedding Nudies available.

The wooled maternal ewes had Border Leceister, Romney, Coopworth, White Suffolk and Texel genetics and Cashmore developed the Nudie sheep by crossing these composites back to some of Australia's best shedding genetics.

Perhaps a sign of the times, it was the Nudie shedding sheep that sold best.

Nutrien agent Tim Jewell said there was a $25-30 premium paid on mature Nudie ewes, compared to their wooled peers.

John Keiller, Cashmore Park, Cashmore, presented more than 2500 sheep including the top-priced pen of the shedding sheep.

He sold 61 2.5-3.5 year old mature Nudie ewes, 76.4 kilograms, for $257 a head or 345 cents a kilogram.

The ex stud ewes had 100 per cent Cashmore Nudie breeding.

Mr Keiller also sold 125 4.5 year old mature Nudie ewes, 73.1kg, for $254/head or 348c/kg.

Another pen of similar 5.5 year old ewes made $183/head.

His Nudie ewe lambs also sold well, with 165 June-August 2024 drop ewe lambs, 39kg, selling for $154/head or 395c/kg.

Cashmore's maternal composite ewes included 325 ewes, 2.5-3.5 years old, 63.7kg, which sold for $232/head or 364c/kg, and 154 ewes, 4.5 years old, 62.6kg, for $222/head or 355c/kg.

Mr Jewell said the majority of the Cashmore sheep were sold locally, within 100 kilometres of the farm including to operations at Hamilton and Coleraine.

However, two lots of ewe lambs went to Wellington, NSW.

He said a number of lighter ewe lamb lots were passed in, with buyers hesitant to take on lighter stock when feed was tight.

Mr Keiller said there were a number of new buyers in the sale, with some Nudie foundation flocks to be started.

"Probably one of the parts of it is these are ex stud ewes that have high performance behind them," he said.

He said purchasing such genetics was a capital investment and it fast-tracked the conversion to shedding sheep for any producer.

Don Finnerty, MacArthur, secured a full clearance of his 1341 Nudie ewes and ewe lambs at the sale.

He sold lots including 230 Nudie ewes, 2.5 years old, 50.6kg, for $210/head or 415c/kg, and 175 Nudie ewes, four years old, 56.6kg, for $200/head or 353c/kg.

Mr Finnerty also sold two lots of 167 one year old ewe hoggets for $212 and $210 a head and 230 August 2024-drop ewe lambs for $190.

He said his sheep were sold to local Victorian and South Australian buyers as well as Tasmania.

The Tasmania buyer was converting to a shedding sheep operation after 45 years in the fine wool game and over the last three years, he had bought 1500 of Mr Finnerty's sheep.

"It was a good sale," Mr Finnerty said.

"They're heading all over the place but quite a few are going to Tassie."

He said it wasn't "rocket science" to see more farmers opting for the shedding Nudie.

"The battle to get people to do these manual jobs on wooly sheep is a bad formula, basically," he said.

He said many producers simply couldn't wait any longer for the wool market to improve.