Mr McEwan, 72, and his wife, Glenda, hosted more than 60 registered buyers at their ewe and plant clearing sale at the 123ha McEwan Farm in Edendale earlier this month.
PGG Wrightson sheep and beef rep Andy Yule said there was a full clearance of about 1200 Coopworth ewes on offer, which sold for between $151 and $222 a head, all bought by Southland buyers.
The couple would move to a 4ha lifestyle block near Rolleston in Canterbury next month so Mr McEwan could start a new job as a school caretaker.
"As long as I’ve got something to do I’ll be right," Mr McEwan said.
His late parents, Neil and Ethel, were newlyweds when they bought McEwan Farm in 1951.
George was raised on the property, the oldest of six siblings.
After leaving school, he was a self-employed shearer, which gave him a deposit to go farming.
He bought a nearly 100ha farm nearby in Waituna and, when his parents retired, he sold it to buy McEwan Farm in 1996.
He began running Coopworths about 15 years ago.
"Wool prices are near the $3 per kg greasy, so half the wool cheque now is mine instead of all of it going to the shearing contractor," he said.
The Drummond family had bought McEwan Farm for dairy support and to make baleage.
One of the Drummond family was his daughter’s partner, so he would still have a connection to the farm, he said.
