Large-framed Merinos, Poll Merinos sell to a premium at Oakfarms auction
Despite a challenging season, new and old faces were present at the Oakfarms annual on-property auction at Buckleboo on Monday, helping the sale to an almost full clearance.
Stud principal Nick Lienert offered a total of 80 Merino and Poll Merino rams, with 69 selling at auction and at least one more sold immediately post-sale.
The sale achieved an overall average of $1008, down about $100 on last year's auction.
Topping the sale for the Merino rams was Lot 35, sired by an Oakfarms ram, it carried a fleece with 17.7 micron, 2.7 standard deviation, 15.2 coefficient of variation, 99.9 per cent comfort factor and a greasy fleece weight at 5.4.
The ram was picked up by MC & MJ Lienert, Kimba, for $2800.
Buyer Joey Lienert said the bright, white wool of Lot 35 made him a standout.
"He had a great frame to match and nice crimpy wool," he said.
"We really like what Oakfarms rams are doing for our ewes so we come back every year."
The family bought a total of three rams to an average of $2133.
In the Poll Merinos, previous buyer BAWC Pty Ltd, Koongawa, returned to the auction after a number of years not buying and picked up three rams to an average of $1533 including the top price in Lot 27.
The ram carried a fleece with 19.9 micron, 3.2 SD, 115.9 CV, 99.5pc CF and a GFW at 5.8.
Kane Grocke, BAWC, said he was keen to get more genetic diversity into his sheep this year so decided to return to Oakfarms and see if the rams had the traits he was chasing.
"We really liked the frames on the rams and their wool looked promising as well," he said.
"Our top ram just had a nice big frame, he's about 120 kilograms but still has a great handful of wool on him.
"Our rams will go out around Melbourne Cup weekend at a rate of about 12 rams to 300 ewes."
Mount Eba Station were the volume buyers on the day with 33 rams to an $860 average.
Nick said he was more than happy with the result of his sale.
"We didn't drop any numbers from last year, so we expect a little bit of a hit on our clearance, but it didn't really happen," he said.
"There were a few station buyers missing this year, but we were lucky to have Mount Eba here buying and also some clients who hadn't bought in a few years but have made their way back up the driveway.
"Our structure and wool quality is really shining and is present through to the back end of the sale, so we're really pleased with how everything's going as a stud and look forward to the future."
Nutrien Kimba were the duty agents on the day, with Nutrien stud stock auctioneer Gordon Wood on the gavel.
"Nick kept the same number in the sale this year knowing he had pastoral buyers who need a selection of rams and wanted to give them that opportunity," Mr Wood said.
"Everyone was looking for a bigger frame type animal which is what you get at Oakfarms.
"There were rams 120kg plus and very few under 100kg, so they are a dual purpose, large-framed animal and they do it well."
