Western Australian bidders compete with locals on top price Ridgway ram

Western Australian buyers travelled more than 3000 kilometres to secure the top price ram at the Ridgway Poll Merino sale at Kulkami on Monday.

Chris Hasleby travelled from Mulga Springs, Northampton, WA, 500 kilometres north of Perth, with his daughter Jessica Horstman and granddaughter Anna, along with his classer Terry Stokes, to bid at Ric, Gail, Matt and Rachel Ridgway's sale for the first time.

The trip came about as a result of meeting the Ridgway team at the Australian Sheep & Wool Show in Bendigo, Victoria, this year.

"We came over to Bendigo and liked what we saw," Mr Hasleby said.

"We thought they had the best wool in the shed, along with outstanding figures on outstanding sheep."

Ms Horstman echoed this sentiment.

"We went to Bendigo and had a great look around at the studs and Ridgway really took our fancy for its combination of wool cut and carcase," she said.

The Ridgway sire the family bought will be going into stud duties for Mulga Springs.

Knocked down at $15,000, Duane Simon, McPiggery, Lameroo, who has been a great supporter of the stud over the years, also competed strongly on the sire as the underbidder.

Offered at Lot 19, the April 2025-drop ram weighed in at 107 kilograms.

It measured in the top 5 per cent of the breed for yearling clean fleece weight, post weaning weight and yearling weight, as well as the Sustainable Merino Index at 172.1.

The ram's fleece was 18.5 micron, with 2.8 standard deviation, 15.2 coefficient of variation and 99.8 per cent comfort factor.

Despite missing out on the top price ram, McPiggery did not go home empty-handed, taking two rams averaging $3750.

Overall, 98 rams sold out of 100 offered, with a $2305 average, which was a whopping $795 up on the 2025 auction.

The volume buyer was Matt Kruger, Kruger Nominees, Moorlands, buying 10 rams, averaging $2260.

It was Mr Kruger's second year buying at Ridgway and he said their sheep were what he was after - plain-bodied sheep that were heavy wool cutters.

Another volume buyer was a return client from NSW, Merran Park Pastoral, Barham, purchasing eight rams, averaging $2100.

There was also great stud support with two studs taking rams at the joint second-highest price of $7000 - The Snuggery, Kingston, and Kurrabi Park, Koppio.

The Schwartz family also bought three rams for their Pindari stud at Waterloo, averaging $2733.

Ridgway co-principal Matt Ridgway said he was pleased with the sale result, especially attracting bidding from four states - NSW, Victoria, WA and SA.

"It's good to see a lot of interest in our rams and quite a few new buyers," he said.

"It's was also good to see pretty healthy competition on the top-end rams."

Mr Ridgway said the stud was focused on producing early growing sheep with good wool cuts and positive carcase traits.

Many of the rams offered in the catalogue had top breeding values for clean fleece weight and staple length.

The sale was conducted by Nutrien with Gordon Wood and Richard Miller sharing auctioneering duties.

"To come out with a $2305 average is a significant improvement," Mr Wood said.

"The top price ram was a ram that I had two ticks next to in my catalogue, and I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one who recognised him."

Ridgway also has rams available by private selection and eight sires going to the Classings Classic on Monday, September 7, at Murray Bridge.