A ‘‘classy’’ shedding ram sparked a nearly $25,000 bidding war in Gore.
Enfield Genetics and Willowglen Farms held their 4th annual Southern Shedding Sheep Sale at Gore A&P Showgrounds last week.
Enfield Genetics co-owner Grant Kean, of Winton in central Southland, sold 44 of the 46 shedding rams he offered for an average price of $2700 including a top price of $24,500 for ram Enfield 748/23.
A syndicate bought the Wiltshire and exlana cross ram. Mr Kean said the $24,500 price tag was a shock.
‘‘I was a bit of a stunned mullet, it all happened so quickly and I was in the ring so I had to focus on getting the next ram in but the bids were certainly flying.’’
A potential buyer from Canterbury withdrew from bidding when the price approached $20,000.
The underbidder was a stud breeder from the North Island.
‘‘Normally when there’s a high priced ram like that, there’s usually only two people on it but the fact there were three people wanting it at close to a $20,000 price tag, probably says quite a lot about how good that ram was.’’
The ram had a nice balance across all production traits, stood very square, with good legs and feet and was very good at shedding his wool.
A major drawcard for buyers was the ‘‘presence’’ of the ram, Mr Kean said.
‘‘His good production data was a bit of a bonus but it was really just the fact that he was just a classy looking animal.’’
In the Sheep Improvement Ltd database across all sheep breeds, the ram was in the top 9% for meat yield and top 16% for growth, he said. ‘‘So he stacks up.’’
‘‘We were thrilled about that at the time, but we’ve tripled it’’.
He warned breeding shedding sheep was not a get-rich-quick scheme. ‘‘We’ve been working on this for 15 years and it hasn’t been about trying to cash in on markets or chasing trends. It has taken a long time to get here. We’ve needed every single one of those 15 years to get rams up to that quality.’’
Bielski Genetics owner Hamish Bielski, is part of the syndicate which bought the ram.
Mr Bielski, of Ashley Downs in South Otago, said the other syndicate members were Daniel Wheeler and Chris Ensor, both of North Canterbury, and a ‘‘local’’ farmer and sheep breeder, who wishes to remain anonymous.
He planned to put the Wiltshire cross ram over his poll Dorset ewes and poll Dorset and Romney cross ewes on Rehoboth Farm.
‘‘Our aim here is to breed a sheep that’s got high growth, high milk, that will get heaps of lambs off mums at weaning because we get dry here.’’
A breeding objective was removing the belly and crutch wool of his flock, while maintaining production traits, such as meat production per hectare, lambing percentage and survival.
‘‘We want a sheep with low input that requires very little assistance like drenching, crutching and dagging.’’
He was confident a Wiltshire cross sheep could provide the growth traits he wanted.
‘‘Absolutely. The ram we bought has got excellent growth and that’s part of the balance of why we bought it because we can’t compromise too much of any production traits, you can’t compromise feet, you can’t compromise structure and type or performance and that ram offered all that.’’
He shears sheep and his wife Amy and their daughter Maddie, 18, were woolhandlers.
A shearer buying a shedding sheep was ironic, he said.
‘‘I enjoy shearing a lot and for me to go shearing plus run a farm, I need to have a sheep that requires very little input and I think if wool recovers in the next five years, then we can keep a certain amount of fleece on the sheep but if wool continues its poor performance, then we’ll just carry on and take it all off and make life even easier.’’
‘‘We need to be able to have sheep that doesn’t require a dipping or at least a huge amount of dipping to prevent it from flystrike.’’
Flystrike was more of an issue than it was a decade ago in the South, he said.
‘‘That issue’s not going anywhere soon, so we are trying to deal with that.’’
If the ram delivers the breeding objectives and vision of the syndicate’s farmers then it was worth every cent of the ‘‘wonderful investment’’.
‘‘Quality for us was paramount and this is one of the most well-balanced rams I’ve come across.’’
When asked if had any buyer’s remorse, the quick reply was ‘‘no, I’m so stoked’’.
‘‘I couldn’t be happier and not a single regret.’’
Willowglen Farms co-owner Barry Smith, of Ranfurly offered 42 rams and sold 40 for an average of more than $2200 including a top price of $7500 for ram Willowglen 64/23.
The exlana cross ram was bred using exlana semen imported from the United Kingdom out of a Willowglen ewe.
A syndicate of farmers in Southland and Otago bought the ram, he said.
The $7500 price tag was the most he had been paid for a ram.
‘‘It was very successful sale. Shedding sheep are the flavour of the month so that’s good for us.’’
There were 56 registered buyers at the sale and nearly 100 people watching and bidding on Bidr, he said.
He believed the future was bright for shedding sheep, he said.
A farmer introducing shedding sheep genetic to their flock was a big decision for them, Mr Smith said.
‘‘They need to do a lot of homework and a lot of thought goes into it but I don’t know of anyone who’s regretted it and I don’t know of anyone that’s changed their mind halfway through and gone back.’’
