Strong competition throughout saw most rams sell well at annual PD sale

A quality line-up of Poll Dorset and White Suffolk rams were in demand when they went under the hammer at the Levett family's annual Tipperary ram sale at the Nanson Showgrounds at Chapman Valley.

With the sheep and lamb markets showing significant improvement in the past six months, buyers were out in force and showed their confidence in the industry, pushing prices to a top of $2000.

From start to finish, the 30 registered buyers from Badgingarra through to Northampton, were strong and positive in their bidding, which made for an easy day for the joint Elders and Nutrien Livestock selling teams led by Elders auctioneer Graeme Curry.

As a result of this strong buying support, all 120 Poll Dorset and White Suffolk rams offered were cleared under the hammer at an average of $1203, which was up $263 on last year's result.

Last year the stud offered and sold 120 rams to a high of $1400 on three occasions and an average of $940.

Mr Curry said it was a very successful sale for the Levett family and its team.

"It was an outstanding line-up of rams and probably the most even offering I have seen the stud offer," Mr Curry said.

"You could run a ruler over them, they were that even.

"Along with presenting very well, they were also backed by very good Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) and this was certainly appreciated by buyers who were strong in their support.

"The sale saw strong buying support from returning and new buyers from Badingarra through to Northampton.

"It was hard finding bids, as there was competition right through the sale, which resulted in the majority of rams selling between $1100 and $1500.

"I expected the sale to be solid, but it was a lot stronger than expected which was a complete surprise and I think there will be a lot of other British Breed sales which will follow the trend of this one on the back of producers realising there is going to be a shortage of lambs.

"There is certainly a lot more confidence in the industry at the moment given what we have seen in terms of pricing in the past couple of months."

Poll Dorset

The Poll Dorset rams were the first to be offered and backed up by impressive LambPlan ASBVs, buyers lined up in their droves in front of the selling team ready to buy.

The Levett family offered and sold 98 rams to 21 buyers to a sale high $2000 and an average of $1222, which was up $316 on last year.

Last year the Levetts offered and sold 100 Poll Dorset rams to a high of $1400 twice and an average of $906.

Achieving the top price in the Poll Dorset run and sale overall was an upstanding ram penned early in the catalogue in lot five.

Going to $2000 on the long, stretchy ram was Hamish Hamersley, Hamersley Fairfield, Walkaway.

The Tipperary 21-209 son has ASBVs of 9.7 for weaning weight (WWT), 15.5 for post weaning weight (PWWT), -0.2 for post weaning fat (PFAT), 3.0 for post weaning eye muscle depth (PEMD) and a terminal carcase production (TCP) index of 143.6.

In addition to buying one of the top-priced rams, the Walkaway-based enterprise purchased another two Poll Dorset rams to finish with a team of three at an average of $1600.

Included in its other two purchases was a ram at $1700 which had an TCP index of 149.1.

The second top price in the run was $1800 bid by return buyer I & D Fox Beef Producers, Dandaragan.

At $1800, the Fox family secured a mid June 2024-drop ram which displayed good early growth and muscling.

It has ASBVs of 12.9 WWT, 19.0 PWWT, -0.7 PFAT, 3.2 PEMD and a TCP index of 159.8.

The second top-priced ram wasn't the only ram headed to the Dandaragan property, as the Fox family secured another nine Poll Dorset rams from the line-up to finish with 10 at a $1265 average.

While the Fox family may have purchased 10 rams, it wasn't the biggest buyer on the day - that title went to fellow return buyers the Gillam and O'Brien families, Gabyon Pastoral Co, Dongara, for a third year running, when they secured 20 Poll Dorsets, five more than last year at an average of $1340.

The Gillam's team included the sale's $1750 third top-priced ram which was by A22-448.

This ram has a TCP index of 153.7, along with ASBVs of 12.0 for WWT 18.6 for PWWT, -0.6 for PFAT and 2.3 for PEMD.

Andrew Gillam said when selecting rams, they looked for good conformation, a good EMD and a high TCP index.

This year Gabyon Pastoral will join 4500 Merino ewes to Poll Dorset rams, while another 4500 ewes will be joined to Merino rams.

Mr Gillam said all their Poll Dorset cross lambs started dropping in early June and they were backgrounded on standing crops.

"We are usually able to sell 30 per cent of our crossbred lambs off the standing crops and then the rest are finished in our onfarm feedlot," Mr Gillam said.

"They usually start going into the feedlot in January and are fed pellets and some additional grain and 90pc are gone by the end of February out the feedlot.

"We aim to sell them at 52-53kg liveweight."

The next biggest buyers in terms of numbers in the run were T & L Sudlow, Northampton, DM Williams, Geraldton and Fortress Ag, Eneabba, all collecting six Poll Dorset sires each.

The Sudlows averaged $1125 across their team which topped at $1300, while DM Williams paid to a top of $1150 twice across its team that averaged $1092 and Fortress Ag's team peaked at $1100 three times and averaged $1067.

White Suffolk

In this side of the catalogue, the Levett family increased its offering to 22 White Suffolk rams and with strong buying support, it sold them all to five buyers - a top of $1300 and an average of $1118, which was up $5 on last year's result.

Last year the stud offered 20 rams in this section of the sale and cleared them all to a top of $1400 and an average of $1113.

Topping the White Suffolk run at $1300 was the seventh ram penned in the run which showed great length, depth and muscling in the pen.

It was purchased by Wayne Boys, White Peak, who went on to be the volume buyer in the run, securing six rams at an average of $1142.

The $1300 top-priced ram weighed in at 116 kilograms and had scans of 47mm for eye muscle depth and 5.3mm for fat.

Mr Boys' team also included two rams at $1200 which both weighed 116.5kg.

Matching Mr Boys in the numbers game and also buying six White Suffolk rams was return buyer AP Bennett, Northampton, which had earlier purchased three Poll Dorset rams.

The Bennett's White Suffolk team topped at $1150 twice and averaged $1075.

Other strong supporters of the White Suffolk offering were David and Wendy Mills, Eneabba, who averaged $1200 over a team of four, while DV & ME Simpson, who also purchased two Poll Dorset rams, secured four White Suffolks at a $1063 average.