For the second year running, a Blackdale Stud Texel ram has topped the Gore Ram Sale.
The annual auction was held at the Gore A&P Showgrounds last week.
The ram sold for $15,500, which was $4500 down on last year’s record price.
Blackdale Stud co-owner Leon Black, of Riverton, said he was pleased with the price of the ram.
‘‘Any time you get more than $5000 for a good ram, that’s good money.
‘‘It’s only the real outliers that get over [$10,000].’’
The ram carried a double copy of a fertility gene.
‘‘He’s got very high reproduction ability as a sire.
‘‘His meat and gross stats are also very high, so he’s just a pretty good all-round Texel.’’
The ram was bought by Nola and Brian Howden, of Waikaka, and Sam Holland, of Culverden.
‘‘We like the soundness of him,’’ Mr Holland said.
‘‘The ram has got great colour [and] is an overall well-balanced ram.’’
The fertility gene the ram carried was an ‘‘added bonus’’.
The Perendale Sheep Society started the auction by offering Perendales and Cheviot sheep.
The top Perendale ram, bred by David and Malcolm McKelvie, of Wyndham, sold to a syndicate of stud owners — Gowan Braes, Snowdon and Mt Guardian — for $12,000.
David McKelvie said he was ‘‘delighted’’ with the price.
The ram had ‘‘good solid figures all the way through as far as fertility, growth and meat and wool’’.
‘‘He was just a ram that basically had no faults.’’
The ram fair committee then organised the auctioning of other breeds which included Romney, South Suffolk, Dorset Down and poll Dorset.
About 90 rams went under the auctioneer’s hammer.
