COMMERCIAL non-mulesed Merino growers were in a good position to take advantage of industry expansion, Marnoo stud breeder Ben Duxson said last week.

After Merino rams at his annual Glendemar MPM on-property sale sold for up to $10,000 last Wednesday, Mr Duxson said with the high prices paid for commercial Merino ewes and lambs, the interest in non-mulesed wool – 5-6 solid enquiries over the past three months — and the easy care and high fertility of the Glendemar MPM sheep, his clients were in a great position to be rewarded for current market prices.

“The sheep industry is in a good position now, and moving forward it is looking to expand.

“We want ourselves and our client’s to be in a position to reap the rewards of this demand,” he said.

“To do this we need to closely align ourselves and our clients with respected brands and deliver a consistent high quality product.

“We need to position ourselves as preferred supplier’s to the whole industry, including wool, meat, skins and surplus sheep,” Mr Duxson said.

“We can do it all with the Merino and the fantastic technology and information that is coming into the industry.

“There is no better time to be in sheep and invest for the future.”

Glendemar rams average $1943

Joint selling agents Elders and Landmark cleared all 120 rams for an average of $1943 at the sale. The top-priced ram, Lot 110, was bought by long-term client Perillup Estate at Mount Barker in Western Australia to breed rams for 6000-ewe flock.

The 20.1 micron ram carried Australian Sheep Breeding Values in the top 5 percent for post weaning weight at +6.7, post-weaning fat +1.7, eye muscle depth +2.8 and yearling staple length +24.9 and in the top 20pc for wool yearling clean fleece weight at +19.8.

Glendemar’s Ben Duxson said high performance-recorded flock had a focus on the sheep industry profit drivers of wool, carcase and surplus sheep.

“With a big emphasis on ASBV’s for all of these traits, the stud presented sheep in the top 5-10pc for carcase traits and top 20pc for wool traits,” he said. The ASBV average of the sale rams was PWT +5.9, PFAT +0.9 and PEMD +1.7 compared with the industry average of PWT +2.5, PFAT 0 and PEMD +0.2.

“This year we have displayed the growth, muscle and fat at post weaning (200-220 days) to more reflect our breeding direction of accelerated early growth and maturity,” Mr Duxson said.

“It is the sweet spot of turning wether lambs off early, a big factor in ewe lamb conception’s and helps with mature ewe weight.

“Ours and our clients’ focus is on participating in all markets of the sheep industry and with proven carcase measurements and their advantage in conception, and more importantly survivability, we are seeing lambing percentage as the number one profit driver of the sheep industry,” he said.

Volume buyers at the sale included Dean and Henry Goodes from Kingston, South Australia, who bought 18 rams; Mick and Hayley O’Connor, Goodooga, NSW, 15 rams; Peter Nixon, Moora, WA, 12 rams; Bradley and Roxanne Wood, Kendenup, WA, 11 rams, and; Howard Frampton, Joel South, Victoria, 10 rams.

“All of these producers are using all ASBV’s tested ram’s in their flock and the results are evident.

“They are all looking for a combination of carcass and wool trait’s and all are long term clients that back up their purchases each year. We are lucky to have such committed clients, who follow our breeding direction and reap the reward for quality ram purchases,” Mr Duxson said.

Other notable buyers at the top end of the sale included Crawfordbell Investment, Wallendbeen NSW, operating through AuctionPlus, 4 rams at an average of $; Peter and Christine McKid, Nyngan NSW, 4 rams av $3062; Russell Pitcher, 3 rams av $2916; Dunstan Family, NGAPALA SA 2 rams av $300, and; Bob and Heather Reed, Esperance, WA, 2 rams av $2625. Buyers come from all states except Queensland.