WA stud makes trek to Wingamin for special ram, as commercial buyers also compete strongly
A trifecta of stud purchases and insatiable demand from commercial clients resulted in a remarkable 30th ram sale result for Wingamin White Suffolks at Karoonda on Thursday.
A late inclusion into the sale catalogue, Wingamin 25-0974, a June 2025-drop twin-born ram attracted huge interest, with John Stephenson, Millinup White Suffolk stud, Porongurup, WA, making an epic trek over from the west to buy the highly-rated sire in person.
Mr Stephenson drove to Perth, flew to Adelaide and booked a hire car to make his way out to Karoonda and was determined to secure Lot 1A, eventually successful at $20,500.
It was one of three six-figure purchases in the first six rams, with Lot 3 off to Roger Wilkinson, Camborn White Suffolks, Pooncarie, NSW, at $15,500, and Lot 5 off to Harry's Well White Suffolks, Loxton, at $11,000.
The sale continued at a prolific pace as commercial clients bid early, with no rams sold below $1500.
In the breakdown, a full clearance of 117 rams was achieved by the Shillabeer family, averaging $2413.
Speaking post-sale, Mr Stephenson said he had spotted the $20,500 ram on Wingamin's social media and enquired.
While it was a difficult decision, Wingamin made the decision to offer the ram a week before the sale after several others made the same query.
The ram's influence will continue on at Karoonda, with 40 lambs on the ground sired by him, and his sire Mertex 230354 also still in action.
Located south of Perth, the Stephensons have bought from Wingamin on various occasions since 2016, purchasing nine rams and 40 stud ewes.
"They have done really well for us for a long time. They seem to click really well with our bloodlines, go well over our ewes, hence why we keep coming back," Mr Stephenson said.
They said Wingamin 25-0974 was an all-round ram and "hard to fault", with a big, long barrell, depth and width, and structural correctness.
Some of the rams figures included a 0.64 birthweight, into a 20.9 post-weaning weight, positive eye muscle and lamb eating quality, and terminal carcase production indexes of 156.1 and 162 respectively.
Millinup will look to make semen sales from the ram, before he is put into their stud operation. The stud has 90 rams on offer at its October 16 sale, with 260 in total to be marketed.
It was just as pleasing for the Shillabeer family to see a shed bursting at the seams with repeat commercial clients.
Deb Shillabeer credited the fantastic sale to confidence in the lamb industry, as well as a good season.
The sale's volume buyer was John Farley, who has country across Geranium, Peake and Jabuk.
He runs solely Merino ewes for crossbred lamb production, buying in all of his ewes as 1.5-year-olds.
Having bought at every Wingamin sale over 30 years, Mr Farley said it was fantastic genetics that kept him coming back. This year, he purchased 18 rams, averaging $1500.
Other volume buyers included Paisley Farm with eight rams, averaging $1937; Easling Farming with eight rams, averaging $2218; SL&MN Rudd, Meringur, Vic, with six rams, averaging $1583; and Sharlu Park Farming, Truro, with six rams, averaging $1958.
"We had so much buyer support and a lot of regulars, and I think the rams sold themselves really" Deb Shillabeer remarked post-sale.
"I think the fact that everyone's restocking and getting great prices for lambs had a huge impact on the sale."
The sale was conducted by Elders, with Laryn Gogel the auctioneer.
