Westray sets stud record after Merino ram sells privately to WA stud

A Westray ram attracted the eye of a Western Australian stud during the Australian Sheep & Wool Show in Bendigo earlier in the year, which has resulted in a record price for the Peak Hill stud.

Announced during the South West Slopes Merino Field Day on Tuesday, the ram, Westray 240188, was sold in a private sale to Barloo Merino stud, Gnowangerup, WA, for $40,000.

Semen shares have also gone to Wilgunya Merino stud, Dirranbandi, Queensland, and Kamballie Merino stud, North Tammin, WA.

The April/May drop, by Collinsville Stair Affair 13, weighed 124 kilograms with a fibre diameter of 21.9 micron, 3.6 micron standard deviation, 16.4 per cent coefficient of variation and 99.2pc comfort factor.

He recorded an eye muscle depth of 44 millimetres, fat depth of 8mm and a greasy fleece weight of 138pc.

Richard House, Barloo Merino stud, said he and son Fraser were showing sheep at Bendigo when they first caught sight of the ram, having never purchased from Westray before.

"We were having a look around and we saw the ram and liked the look of him," he said.

"He was an extremely well-made ram, good spring of rib and a very rich, bold wool which is what we like in our horneys."

Mr House said the ram will go into their stud operation, where they join about 2500 stud ewes and sell 300 to 400 rams a year.

"We focus quite heavily on growth rates in the animals - we're looking for faster growers," he said.

"Also keeping our wool cut in balance with our growth rates - there's a ratio we work on and that's we'd like to cut about 10pc of the ewe's body weight is about the right ratio we believe and that doesn't affect the lambing percentages."

Mr House said the ram would also be used over their commercial ewes, where they run about 8000 commercial Merinos.

Blake Tremain-Cannon, Westray, said the ram had good breeding on both sides of the pedigree, with the ram's sire by Collinsville 641 which sold in Adelaide for $72,500.

The dam, Westray 190016, was ET-bred and sired by their best-selling semen sire, Westray 913.

"He's got excellent structure," he said.

"A really good combination of a big sheep, structurally correct, carrying high-quality wool and a really well balanced animal - hard to fault."

Mr Tremain-Cannon said they had planned on retaining the ram for stud use, but were very pleased with the stud record sale.

The sale was coordinated by Nutrien Studstock.