Southdown rams outperform Poll Dorsets at Yentrac prime lamb sire sale

A sizeable offering of Southdown rams sold to nearly full clearance at the Yentrac prime lamb ram sale on Wednesday.

The sale offered both Southdown and Poll Dorset rams at the Ballarat showgrounds, but Yentrac stud principal Rob McCartney, Tatura, said the Poll Dorset offering was tougher to clear.

Overall, the sale saw 41 of the 56 rams offered sold for an average of $1124.

In the breakown, 30 of 32 Southdown rams sold for an average of $1187 and to a top price of $3000, while 11 of 24 Poll Dorset rams sold for an average of $1054 and to a top price of $1600.

"The Southdown's sold quite well, in terms of clearance, but our Poll Dorset clearance wasn't as good," Mr McCartney said.

The top-priced Southdown ram, Lot 1, was purchased by Narmbool, Sovereign Hill, as a future stud ram for the $3000.

"He was a very traditional style Southdown ram," Mr McCartney said.

"He was a thicker-set ram with a big hind quarter.

"Some of the more modern Southdowns are a bit longer and leaner, but this ram was a more traditional type."

The top-priced ram was an August 2024-drop ram with an eye muscle area of 38.48 square centimetres.

It is the second stud ram sale Mr McCartney has held in as many months.

Mr McCartney said the second Yentrac sale had always been the stud's stronger Southdown sale in comparison to the other stud sale held on-property at Tatura in September.

"I think there are a few more composite breeders down this way chasing the Southdowns," he said.

Comparing the two Yentrac sales over the past two months, Mr McCartney said the sale at Ballarat on Wednesday fell slightly short of expectations.

"The Tatura sale, on the other hand, probably sold a bit above expectations," he said.

"Being a stud breeder isn't a very exact science - you never know what's going to happen.

"The clients we had at the Tatura sale, a lot of them had sold lambs and were wanting Poll Dorset rams to put over their first cross ewes.

"They had probably sold lambs for $13 a kilogram dressed weight and were feeling pretty confident.

"But down here a lot of these blokes haven't sold their lambs yet so they're still a bit hesitant."

The sale was strongly supported by returning repeat buyers from the western district.

However, at least two new clients were in attendance from south-west Victoria, and both purchased three or four rams each.

"It's all about buyer confidence, and a lot of buyers haven't forgotten the drop in the lamb price two years ago," Mr McCartney said.

"If wheat was making $1000 a tonne, which is the same as lambs making $400 a head, they would be ripping up the sides of the road to put wheat in.

"But no one is rushing to breed lambs - it's quite interesting."