VFF president Brett Hosking secures top ram at Tamaleuca poll Merino sale

It was a busy day for Victorian Farmers Federation president Brett Hosking, who secured two of the top-priced rams at the Tamaleuca poll Merino sale while four hours away at the Bush Summit in Ballarat.

Mr Hosking, who is a long-time client of the Tamaleuca stud, bought Lots 2 and 3 at the sale through Elders Swan Hill agent Andrew Williamson.

The top-priced Lot 3 ram achieved $5300, while Mr Hosking's second purchase, Lot 2, sold for $3000.

"Brett has been a long-term client of ours and always buys the top end of our rams," Tamaleuca stud principal Kevin Crook said.

"He always buys two or three rams every year."

Lot 3 was a 15-month-old, 120-kilogram ram that had a 20.1-micron fleece with a standard deviation (SD) of 2.9, coefficient variation (CV) of 14.2 and comfort factor (CF) of 99.6pc.

Its eye muscle depth (EMD) was 54mm, and it had a fat depth (FD) of 7.5mm.

"He had a lot of interest in him before the sale," Mr Crook said.

"Four of five people were bidding on him."

The Lot 2 ram weighed 113kg and had a 17.4-micron fleece with an SD of 3.0, CV of 17.1 and CF of 99.6pc.

Its EMD was 40mm, and it had an FD of 6mm.

Despite the wet and windy day at Ouyen, Tamaleuca's on-property sale was a huge success.

The stud cleared an impressive 93 per cent of their rams, with 56 of 60 Poll Merino rams sold to an average $1780.

Last year, the stud sold 58 of 60 rams to average $1577 with a top price of $3400.

Mr Crook said he was "extremely happy" with the clearance rate and the sale in general.

"We had five new clients show up in person and they all went home with at least two rams each," Mr Crook said.

While the sale didn't quite manage to clear 100 per cent of the ram offering, by the end of the day, all the sale rams had sold, plus another 16 more rams post-auction.

Ahead of the sale, Mr Crook said he was unsure how successful the results would be.

"We had a lot of inquiry, but you just never know," he said.

He said the extremely buoyant sheep and lamb market definitely boosted the sale results.

"We really noticed throughout the sale that rams with great figures - eye muscle depth, fat and weight - sold really well," he said.

"I don't think it's the money that's holding people back, I think it's the ewe numbers that are around.

"People paying $1500 for a ram, that's only the price of five old ewes at the moment.

"Old ewes at Ouyen on Thursday made over $300."

Mr Crook said the stud normally sells around 180 rams between their on-property auction and private sales every year, but numbers have slightly reduced this year.

"Unfortunately, we lost two big clients in NSW this year who buy a significant number of our rams," he said.

"They've gone to shedding sheep now."