National demand drives 97 per cent clearance in almost 800-head ram sale
National demand from stud and commercial buyers has led to a 97 per cent clearance rate at Cashmore Oaklea's annual sale.
The two studs sold 754 of 777 maternal composite, Nudie and terminal rams across three sales on AuctionsPlus on Wednesday.
The stud recorded a total clearance in its maternal composite sale, with 488 rams selling to $9000 and an average of $3340, while 228 of 249 Nudie rams sold to a top price of $7400, averaging $2020.
The stud also sold 38 of 40 terminal rams in the third online sale to a top price of $2000 and an average of $1263.
The consignment was offered by Cashmore Oaklea stud co-principals John and Brigita Keiller, Cashmore Park, Cashmore, and Don Pegler and Alex and Catherine Lyon, Oaklea, Kongorong, SA.
"I started the Oaklea part of the stud in 1982 and John bought sheep off me in 1990 and since then, we've worked closely for marketing and genetic development," Mr Pegler said.
"At the end of the day, the profit drivers are how many lambs you have, how quickly they put on weight and how easy the ewes are to manage in resilience and toughness.
"We run both commercial operations, so our primary focus is to make money and our lambs are regularly sought after by industry because they perform so well."
The top-priced maternal ram was Lot 86, Cashmore Oaklea 251193, which was sold for $9000 to Chrome Sheep Studs, Hamilton.
Chrome stud principal Matt Tonissen said the ram would be used in the stud's Chromedale maternal breeding program.
"The ram had exceptionally good growth and he had a full suite of breeding values," Mr Tonissen said.
"He was very structurally correct, he had good pigment, black feet, a black nose and he had nice, fine skin too.
"Our clients predominantly want black noses and feet because of their tolerance and toughness and he also has a very good resistance to worms which is important for southern environments."
Lot 86 was ranked highly for eye muscle area, weaning rate and post-weaning weight and described by the stud as the highest-indexing ram in the sale.
"He was a really well-structured ram and we predicted that he would be the one to top our sale, just because his phenotype really matched his performance data," Mr Lyon said.
The top-priced Nudie ram, Lot 502, Cashmore Oaklea 257114, was bought by commercial lamb producer Josh Lilley, Port Fairy.
The ram was described by the stud as a very high-performing shedding animal, with high growth, low parasites and high reproduction.
The top-priced terminal ram, Lot 784, Cashmore Oaklea 255221, was bought by commercial lamb producer Charles Kitchen, Edenhope.
The ram was described as an animal with large muscle and big growth rates with strong parasite resistance.
Among the major buyers were livestock agents from Ballarat, Ararat, Hamilton, Mount Gambier, SA, and Penola, SA, while rams went as far as Tasmania, NSW and Western Australia.
Mr Keiller said the top rams often went to seedstock operations or very well-run commercial operations.
"We have been performance recording our sheep heavily since the mid-1980s," he said.
"These rams are used in high stocking rate environments, where they are intensively farmed in grass-based systems."
Elders Hamilton livestock manager Aaron Malseed said it was a tremendous result for the families of the two studs.
"They have put a lot of effort into breeding sheep for producers throughout Australia," Mr Malseed said.
"These rams are destined for self-replacing maternal flocks, with some rams going to stud duties and high-end maternal flocks throughout the country."
