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Former butcher sets new record with $1015 Aussie White ewes

Terry Sim, August 11, 2021

These 15-16 month-old Australian White ewes sold for a record $1015 on AuctionsPlus yesterday.

FORMER butcher Rodney Vodusek had only wanted to test the market, but instead he set a new commercial ewe record of $1015 with his Australian White ewes yesterday.

In the AuctionsPlus’ National Sheep Sale, trading as R. & K. Greenfields Pty Ltd the northern Victorian farmer offered 40 scanned in-lamb Tattykeel certified AW ewes that beat the previous record by $21.

The 15-16 month-old ewes offered through Elders Yarrawonga agent Trent Head were bought by a southern New South Wales buyer.

These ewes were station mated to Tattykeel Australian White rams, 2-3 months in lamb at the time of assessment, and scanned with 60 percent multiple and 40pc single foetuses.

Rodney said he hadn’t expected to set an Australian record, and had only offered a small run of his ewes “to see if we could get some of this silly money.”

“If they are running so hot, let’s try and get some,” he said.

He joked to Trent that would “kill the sale”, but the opposite occurred.

“I wasn’t expecting that.”

Rodney said it was his first offering of Australian White ewes off the Bundalong property.

“I’ve only been on the property three years and this is the first lot of ewes that I’ve bred.

“I was going to keep them and lamb them down and try to increase my flock as well.”

AuctionsPlus analyst Michael McManus said records are made to be broken, “but the commercial ewe record falling three times in less than two months would have seemed incomprehensible during the depths of 2019.

“On top of the record high prices, breaking the $1,000/head barrier for commercial ewes is the “cream on top,” he said.

There were eight active bidders on the Vodusek ewes, with six bidders from Victoria and two from New South Wales. The lot received 63 bids and cleared the reserve by $315. Other joined Australian White ewes in the sale made up to $591.

Mr McManus said Australian White lines offered with Tattykeel certified red tags continue to dominate the market, attracting a remarkable amount of demand and breaking records.

“Buyers are willing to pay top dollar to secure these Tattykeel lines, and in the current market, sellers are certainly being rewarded through AuctionsPlus.”

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