The Lascelles stud finished the day with an 84 per cent clearance rate – a fantastic result for an inaugural sale.

There were 20 ewes offered to kick off the sale, including five ewes with lambs at foot, which sold to strong competition, to a top of $2500, and an average price of $1600.

There was a near total clearance for the remainder of the ewes, with 13 of 15 selling to a top of $1700, averaging $1246.

There were then five stud rams offered, who each sold, to reach a top price of $4100, averaging $3180.

The final portion of the sale saw 53 of 65 flock rams sell to a top of $2300, averaging $1343.

Craig Chad of Dubbo managed to attend Gamadale’s sale purely by coincidence and took home the first and second top-priced rams as well as a selection of ewes.

“I’m delivering a truck of cattle to Naracoorte and it was purely coincidence that I was driving this route and could make a detour to attend the sale,” Mr Chad said.

He’s a first-time Gamadale buyer, after incorporating Australian White rams into his flock in recent years.

“Our first drop of Australian White lambs (crossed with White Dorper cross ewes) was in 2014, I just find that they’ve got better temperament and weight for age in the top end,” he said.

“The rams I selected had great bone, weight and body length and the ewes had extra scale and length capacity.”

He said the majority of his purchases were sired by TAT140035.

There were some big volume buyers including first-time clients Max and Valda Smith of Nhill, who bought five rams.

“The stud’s rams are very good, they’re well-bred and have good length in them,” Mr Smith said. “We cross Australian White rams over White Dorper ewes. We just find they’re nice and quiet.”

Gamadale stud co-principal Nip Rowney said he was happy with the result.

“Prices for flock rams were higher than I could have ever dreamed of,” he said.