A KANIVA merino stud has reached a top price of $3250 at its ram sale earlier this month.
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Hannaton Merinos had its annual sale on Monday last week.
One of the stud’s most loyal clients returned to again pay top price for a ram.
Loyoak’s Dick Smith, of Minimay, paid $3250 for lot number one, a poll merino, son of GP 739.
Stud principal Peter Hicks said Mr Smith was one of the many repeat buyers at the sale, having bought his first Hannaton ram in 1970.
“The ram had a huge meaty frame combined with a heavy cutting fleece,” he said.
“He had Australian Sheep Breeding Values figures for yearling clean fleece weight of +16, yearly body weight of +7 and +0.6 for eye muscle.
“He was one of the heavier rams in the sale with a body weight of 109.5 kilogram.”
The ram recorded figures of a 21.9 micron fleece, a standard deviation of three, coefficient of variationof 13.7 and comfort factor of 99.5.
Mr Hicks said Mr Smith was one of the stud’s most loyal clients.
“He’s bought 45 or 46 rams and that’s not a bad run,” he said.
“He likes the sheep, he likes good wools and the sheep tend to perform – they are paddock run and do it pretty tough.”
The sale attracted 32 buyers, from three states, with seven Kaniva farmers taking a total of 23 rams.
Four clients, CR and AJ Smith, Glenera Pastoral, TM and MA Keller and Mundabah Partners each paid $2750 for the second top priced ram.
Mr Hicks said Hannaton had a lot of repeat buyers.
“Out of the 32, only two were new buyers, and they just came to look,” he said.
“They wanted a change, but they had already bought their rams elsewhere.”
Stud principal Jonno Hicks said the stud was very pleased with the clearance and average.
“We were really happy with the way the sale went, both clearance and price wise, from start to finish,” he
“We sold rams across a fair array of areas and into different climates.”
“The sheep job has been fantastic, particularly for medium wool merinos, with good wool cuts.
Elders Horsham’s Andrew Adamson said it was a good, solid sale, with money being paid for the right sheep.
“Right through, to the end of the sale, the good rams with the better figures made well above the reserve price,” he said.
“There was plenty of competition from a good crowd, they were mostly return buyers but there were a few new ones as well,” he said.
The annual charity ram made $1500 for the Kaniva Cancer Council branch.