Kerin Ag achieves complete 500-ram clearance, backing clients with market muscle

Strong repeat-buyer support underpinned the Kerin Poll result, at Yeoval on Friday, September 25, reflecting widespread recognition of the brand across physical sales, online platforms, and the supply chain, including agents, restockers, and feedlotters.

Nigel Kerin and his family achieved a 100 per cent clearance, selling all 500 rams to a top of $10,000,averaging $3581 and grossing $1,790,500.

The sale built strongly on the previous year, which also had a complete 500-head clearance average of $2930 - representing a significant $651 jump in average value.

The buyer of the sale-topping ram was the McNaulty family, St Arnaud, Vic, who secured an August-drop sire with a 17.9 micron for $10,000.

Tag number 250240, sired by Kerin Ag 230270 out of Kerin Poll 232938, delivered an elite data set, ranking in the top 1 per cent of Merino Australian Sheep Breeding Values for early breech cover (EBCOV) at -1.1. It also hit top 5pc for post-weaning weight (PWT) at 11.0, and top 10pc for adult clean fleece weight (ACFW) at 29.8, late dag (LDAG) at -0.6, and lean meat yield (LMY) at 2.9.

The McNaultys also bought the second top-priced ram, KP 250489, for $9000. Sired by KP 232350, it featured ASBVs in the top 1pc for PWT (15.0) and yearling weight (YWT 16.8), alongside three top 5pc figures: ACFW at 31.4, EBCOV at -10.0, and LMY at 3.4. In total, the McNaulty brothers secured four rams, averaging $8500.

Repeat volume buyers formed the backbone of the auction.

Blantyre Farms, Young, led the volume buying list, securing 47 sires priced from $2000 to $6000.

Gordon Walsh Pty Ltd bought 26 rams with a top of $7000 and a floor of $1500, while Warralong Pastoral Company, Coolac, bought 18 rams ranging from $2000 to $8000.

The Burgess brothers - Wayne and Michael Burgess, Noonga, Boorowa - secured 15 rams priced from $1500 to $4000.

McCulloch Pastoral Company, Gunbar, targeted the higher end of the catalogue, paying up to $8000 to average $4176.

Interstate buyers also competed strongly, with Quandong Station, Dulwich, South Australia, taking home 17 rams ranging from $1500 to $2000. Wandarrah, Kapinnie, SA, purchased six rams averaging $3916, and Allan Jacka and Sons, Jamestown, SA, secured four rams totalling $15,000.

Addressing the crowd, Mr Kerin emphasised that commercial buyers were prioritising holistic business outcomes rather than isolated traits.

"Our clients look at the data and phenotype side-by-side," Mr Kerin said.

"On paper, they're zeroing in on post-weaning weight, fat, muscle, fleece weight, micron, dag score, and worm resistance - especially our high-rainfall clients where internal parasites chew up labour and profit.

"Turnaround speed is everything. The faster you get commercial lambs off the place, the more dry matter you conserve for breeding ewes and ewe lambs, driving conception rates.

"When you look at the May-drop and September-drop rams we displayed out front, buyers could see that carcase performance in the flesh. Intramuscular fat (IMF) is following the exact same trajectory.

"In 10 years, the entire industry will look back and say, 'Why weren't we selecting for eating quality a decade earlier?'

"The studs that lead on that data will thrive; those that don't will vanish."

Mr Kerin stressed that while data was mandatory, it alone would not insulate a commercial producer.

"In both sheep and cattle, the future belongs to recognised commercial brands," he said.

"In five years, 30 to 50pc of traditional studs will be gone because they operate on an outdated model: breed rams, hold an annual sale, collect the cheque and wave goodbye at the gate.

"A high-profile fine wool breeder told me recently that unbranded commercial sheep have no pricing power left in this country. He's completely right.

"Look at the cattle sector - feedlots routinely pay premiums for specific bloodlines because they know the performance is locked in. Sheep are entering that same phase."

Mr Kerin referred to this as a "circular economy".

"If a client invests in our rams, we're obligated to help market their surplus sheep - cull ewes, cast-for-age ewes and wether lambs," he said.

"Just this past week on AuctionsPlus, our clients offered 4025 head. Of those, 2750 lambs went directly to a repeat buyer from last year who was also in our sale shed buying rams.

"Across those lines, we delivered a $20 to $70 per head premium over prevailing market rates. That single week added over $100,000 in clear margin directly back into our clients' pockets.

"That is how you pay for your ram battery. It costs us very little - a targeted text blast, an email to our buyer network, on-farm social media video walk-throughs, or picking up the phone to backgrounders and feedlots who want lines of sheep that perform on grass and explode on grain."

Marking a major operational milestone to support this growth, Mr Kerin announced at the conclusion of the sale that James and Katrina Ridgway would step in as Kerin Ag's new stud managers.

"Our seedstock operation has reached a scale where I cannot be hands-on in the sheep yards every day and still deliver maximum commercial value to our buyers," he said.

"Bringing James and Katrina on board takes our breeding operations and logistics to another level.

"That frees me to do what actually drives our clients' bottom lines: get on-farm, assess their flocks, produce marketing content, and run the phones to place their sheep.

"Kerin Ag cannot grow unless our commercial clients grow. My job now is ensuring their surplus sheep command the top tier of the market."

The sale was settled by selling agents Bowyer and Livermore, with auctioneers Paul Dooley and Nick Fogarty wielding the hammer.