Allendale, Days combined ram sale notches up $10k high four times
A full clearance on all of Allendale and Days Whiteface studs' Suffolk, Poll Dorset and White Suffolk stud and flock rams was just one of the many highlights of the 53rd annual ram sale at Bordertown.
This support came from a four-state buying gallery and was testament to the evenness of the huge catalogue and the Day families' long history of breeding top-quality prime lamb sires.
In a three-and-a-half-hour selling marathon, Alastair and Jayne Day, Allendale studs and Lachy and Lou Day, Days Whiteface studs sold 335 rams from 356 they offered for a $2019 average.
Allendale and Days Whiteface studs 53rd annual ram sale
This was a big leap in average on 2024 when 346 of 419 rams topped at $10,000 twice and averaged $1619.
The same high price was reached this year but it was four times and across the three main breeds.
Bids flew from the very first lot, with the champion Suffolk ram at the 2025 Royal Adelaide Show going under the hammer first.
The June 2024-drop turned plenty of heads, but it was Lachie Kelly, LSK studs, Hexham, Vic, who put in the winning bid at $10,000.
He described the son of Allendale 231284 as an "outstanding Suffolk ram with a great pedigree".
The Days rated the ram highly too, and are retaining semen for in-flock use.
Lot 5, Allendale 241566, which was born on the same day, sold to another high-profile stud, Sayla Park, Kilmore, Vic also at $10,000.
All 13 Suffolk stud rams averaged $4731.
Allendale's Poll Dorsets posted the highest average of the three breeds in the stud ram category, with 13 averaging $4577.
Tom Giles, Richings stud, Glenroy, secured the top priced Poll Dorset at lot 29 - a May 2024 drop son of Ivadene 220134 - which had a great eye muscle depth figure of 3.0.
"He is open in the face, long and a good wedge shape, so he is the right shape to breed some good rams," Mr Giles said.
The following lot, Allendale 240334, by a home-bred sire was bought by Leigh Clifford, Gowanbrae stud, Furner for $8000.
In the White Suffolk stud offering, 12 Days Whiteface rams averaged $3771.
The $10,000 ram was lot 15, a long-bodied ram which sold to the Smart Group, Keith, with Spence Dix & Co director Rodney Dix doing the buying.
The tables were reversed in the flock rams, with White Suffolks posting the highest average among the three breeds.
All 113 White Suffolk flock rams topped at $2800 and averaged $1934, with rams in even the final pens making $1600 to $1800.
Allendale's 91 Poll Dorset flock rams topped at $2200 and averaged $1714 and 44 Suffolk flock rams topped at $2400 and averaged $1482.
Eight of the nearly 100 registered bidders put ten rams or more on their bidding cards.
AS&SJ Lowe, Mundulla, had orders for multiple breeds, buying 16 rams for a $1975 average.
Daniel Brown, Creston Holdings, Padthaway, who recently won the Next Gen award in JBS Farm Assurance awards, secured 15 rams.
His buys included multiple White Suffolk and Poll Dorset rams for $2000 or more.
Kinyerrie Partnership, Keith, operated at the top end of the Suffolks and White Suffolks for their 13 rams, including the $2400 highest priced flock Suffolk.
Bidding was less animated on Days Whiteface stud's maternal composites and the latest venture, the White Baldies, a shedding maternal sheep.
Twenty-two maternal composites out of 25 topped at $1600 three times and averaged $1314 and 25 White Baldies out of 43 topped at $4600 and averaged $1580.
Garvard Vale, Hamilton, Vic, was a dominant force in the White Baldies, securing 15 rams for a $1440 average.
Online bidding was also strong, with 23 lots selling on AuctionsPlus.
Alastair Day said they really appreciated buyers travelling such long distances to buy their genetics.
"You see people here who have come so far to buy our rams, they have probably driven past 50 studs to come to us - it must also mean the sheep are doing the job," he said.
He was rapt with being rewarded for the best offering of Poll Dorset rams in his time at the helm.
"There was a dominant home-bred sire 255 whose rams sold well in the stud and flock rams and he is still going strong for us," he said.
Lachy was particularly pleased with the depth of bidding in the White Suffolk flock rams and selling nearly all of their maternal composites to new and existing clients.
He acknowledged the White Baldies, being offered for only the second time, were a work in progress, but was pleased to see them sell to those who bought rams last year.
This included the $4600 sale high to Glen Esk Pastoral, Wentworth, NSW for its Glen Park Whites composite breeding program.
"We will keep working hard to increase the shedding but maintain the maternal, carcase and growth attributes and structure of the sheep," Lachy said.
Elders Vic studstock manager Ross Milne described it as a "very consistent sale".
"That was probably as good an average on the Poll Dorset stud rams that we have seen in quite a while - the quality was very good and obviously the Suffolks and White Suffolks sold well too," he said.
"For both studs, it would have been a very satisfying day."
Nutrien SA studstock manager Gordon Wood said the full clearance of the British Breeds came as no surprise and was a testament to the two studs' high standing as seedstock producers.
He also noted the exceptional line of Poll Dorset flock rams, which he was fortunate to sell.
"I was impressed with them when I saw them about a month ago but they have turned inside out since then," he said.
"Both studs are not big feeders of stock, but they are fantastic at presenting animals in their best genetic potential and getting them up on the day in the right order."
Mr Milne and Mr Wood shared the rostrum, with Jono Spence from Spence Dix and Co the other auctioneer.
