Full clearance achieved with a strong average at Karawatha Park

A full clearance of 150 rams was achieved at Karawatha Park's 24^th on-property ram sale near Kimba on Friday last week, with their average among the best in the state.

The offering averaged $3004 and it was local farmers, the Koch family, Boongala Ag, Kimba, purchasing Lot 7 at the sale's highest price of $6000.

Boongala Ag's Jeff Koch said the ram would service their commercial flock of 500 ewes.

"We've been closely looking at our ASBV values and the future direction of our flock and he had some pretty good numbers, good skin and fibre to back it up," Mr Koch said.

The ram boasted 42.2 on yearling clean fleece weight (top five per cent), 10.7 yearling weight, 0.9 fat score and 1.2 eye muscle depth, yearling staple length 18.3, WP index 208 (top five per cent), SM index 166 (top five per cent), and FW index 208.7 (top five per cent).

"For a while we've been chasing staple length and fleece weight and in more recent times we've been trying to focus more on the muscle and fat," he said.

The Koch family have been loyal long-time clients of Karawatha Park for the past 15 to 20 years and purchased three rams at a $4133 average this year.

The impressive sale result was a vast improvement on 2025, where it was also a full clearance of 150 rams to $6000, but the average was $1606.

Karawatha Park stud principal Dion Woolford said this year's rams had benefited from the good season.

"They're well grown and have held up well with about 230mm of rain on them since shearing," Mr Woolford said.

"Numerically they're a decent step up on last year and that, along with the way the season and prices are shaping up, is likely behind the increased demand for higher quality animals and the subsequent lift in average price."

Stud purchases included Lot 33, which went in shares to Glenville Poll Merinos and Mernowie Poll Merinos for $5800.

Volume buyers were the Nutt family of Pandurra Pastoral Co (Oakden Hills) who bought 55 rams at an average of $3038.

"The Nutt family has been breeding with Karawatha Park rams for a long time," Mr Woolford said.

"It's a significant investment in their genetics and sign of genuine confidence in the industry going forward.

"They are very astute operators and they will have no doubt run the numbers on the move. We are very grateful for their confidence in our sheep."

Other volume buyers were GA & MP Chapman, Orroroo, taking home 13 at $2046, Morris Pastoral, Gawler Ranges, with 11 at $1236, River Park Farming, Wandearah, took eight at $3850, and Longtrail Farms, Parilla, taking six at $3266.

The Karawatha team were pleased with the day's results.

"It's a good feeling - we have a long list of loyal supporters and we are very grateful to have them in our corner," Mr Woolford said.

"We have a strong sense of responsibility to them - they've placed their trust in us to continue to improve our offering year on year, ensuring their flocks move forward at the same rate."

In an effort to further support clients with genetic progression, the Karawatha team is offering to help facilitate DNA flock profiling to monitor progress over time and help with ram selection going forward.

This process will be carried out over the next few months in conjunction with Mark Ferguson and the team from NextGen Agri.

Elders conducted the sale with Tony Wetherall and Nutrien's Gordon Wood as the auctioneers.