The Tambo White Suffolks rams at Swifts Creek have been washed clean by the rain and readied for sale this Friday.
There are 37 White Suffolk rams and 15 White Suffolk/South Down on offer from Scott McCole and Sharon Miles, and their children Lily and Riley, who will run their fourth annual on-farm ram sale.
Scott said the flock was a commercial-based stud operation and they were slowly growing its numbers.
“We’ve been experimenting with the White Suffolk-Southdown cross,” he said.
“They’re a really easy-doing, fast-maturing line that’s ideal to breed sucker lambs from.”
This year the family purchased two rams from Gemini stud in the Western District to complement the flock, looking for “eye muscle and fat depth, as well as good all-round genomic figures”.
“We’re starting to use figures more, but I won’t buy a ram that has good figures if I don’t like the look of him,” Scott said.
All this year’s ram lambs will undergo genomic testing so that next year’s sale drop will have all the genomic data available.
Interestingly this spring, mutton and lamb prices are consistently blazing new highs at weekly intervals.
Given that just two years ago Scott was quoted post-sale as saying people were “saving their pennies a bit” but that “It’ll all change, it always does”, he’s been proven right.
At the 2023 sale, of 34 rams offered Tambo White Suffolks sold 25 White Suffolk rams including four White Suffolk/South Downs to a top of $1200 a head and an average $845, while in the 2024 sale, 40 rams offered sold to a full clearance and made an average of $1100/head.
He said this year the seasons had been kind at Swifts Creek, and the animals were looking well, with the sheep enjoying the dry weather.
Elders selling agent, Aaron McCole, said drought in other parts of the state and South Australia had forced producers to sell off ewes in record numbers.
“At Bairnsdale on Monday, ewes were making $230/head,” Aaron said.
“Lamb prices are up to $11 to $13 a kilogram which is unprecedented, and mutton is very, very strong too.
“People are getting $7.50/kg for mutton – that used to be a good lamb price.
“Winter prices are always inflated but at the moment we’re in the peak lamb selling period and prices are still at record levels, although it’s a bit different in our area because we’ve had four good years.”
Aaron said the Tambo White Suffolks and Southdown-cross rams were moderate carcase sheep that produced good trade weight lambs.
The Tambo White Suffolks ram sale is this Friday, October 31, at 27 Hollonds/O’Briens Road, Swifts Creek, and begins with inspections at 11am, a barbecue lunch at midday, with the sale starting at 1pm.
