Passion for superfine wool drives $1200 top price at Edale Merino Stud Ram Sale

A passion for superfine wool was what drove a local farmer to bid $1200 to claim the top-priced ram at this year’s Edale Merino Stud Ram Sale at Moora, where vendors were delighted with quality.

The stud prides itself on its low micron and high fleece weight genetics, which were well sought-after by local buyers as well as those from the nearby farming area Wannamal and as far away as Lower King in the Great Southern.

A long-term Moora farmer, Will Easton said he was willing to open his wallet to bid on the top-priced ram, Edale tag number 22Z242 — saying he was drawn in by its white and fine crimped wool and good size.

The ram had a May 2023 shearing result of 15.9 microns for 3.4kg (six months worth of wool) and a September side sample of 1. microns.

“This was a golden opportunity for me. . . this was a great opportunity to buy a great ram,” Mr Easton said.

“I feel like it was good value for extremely good quality. I believe bought the best ram on the day.”

Mr Easton runs a purely commercial flock targeting fine Merino wool, mating rams to about 80 to 100 ewes at his 565ha home farm near Moora. About 450ha of the property is arable.

He runs about 1400 sheep in a normal year, but this year reduced his numbers to 1200 to reduce handfeeding after a dry season.

Mr Easton bought the majority of stud rams from former Colvin Merino studmaster Jeremy Lefroy when he sold his stud about eight years ago.

He has since been breeding his own rams, and attended the Edale sale for the first time to add some new genetics to his Merino flock after following Edale’s journey.

“I’m chasing a new bloodline, and I will put him across 50-80 ewes and see what his offspring are like,” he said.

“If I am happy, I will probably breed rams from him in the future.”

The Moora-based stud re-entered the selling scene in 2021 after 16 years of selling privately and this year offered 40 rams with the famous Edale genetics bred by the Gardiners for the past 30 years.

After two of doing a helmsmen auction, the sale was held in a conventional auction style with AWN State livestock manager Greg Tilbrook taking to the microphone.

The Edale rams were penned on the lawn in front of the beautiful Gardiner family home for buyers to inspect at the sale, which also coupled as a field day.

Ahead of the sale, Mr Tilbrook paid tribute to Edale’s good genetics and said farmers were expected to focus more on wool quality as “tough prices” for sheepmeat played out.

Registered buyers bid on 17 rams, which sold to an average of $670 per head.

The fine wool stud, established in 1989 by Philip Gardiner, made its return to the WA sale circuit in 2021 after a 16-year hiatus — selling only privately in that period of time.

Now managed by Mr Gardiner’s son James, the stud’s third-year return of offering rams to the public took place on September 15 on the lawn of the Gardiner’s idyllic homestead.

The Gardiners and co-manager David Reynolds had been selling rams on to private clients before re-entering the sales arena in 2021.

James said the family was keenly focused on fleece weight and fibre diameter, which he believed was one of the hardest genetic combinations to achieve when breeding stud sheep.

“They are two important factors, to maximise profitability per hectare,” he said.

“I think a lot of studs have given up on that and are focused more on other parts of the sheep which are also important, but the cornerstone is the wool revenue per hectare return.

“We are sticking to our guns on those two important factors — to maximise profitability per hectare by producing a lot of wool at a low fibre diameter.”

Neighbour Julian Gardiner, of Noondine Gardiner & Co, returned to the sale as a 20-year repeat buyer to secure 12 rams to total $7850, with a top of $1050 and an average price of $654.

He said he normally bought more rams at the Edale sale but said depressed sheep prices coupled with a dry season meant he was “up in the air” about how many sheep he would mate next year.

“We are always very comfortable with the fibre diameter because it matches what we have,” Mr Gardiner said.

“We look at greasy fleece weight, and in recent years we have concentrated on eye muscle depth. . . but primarily we are keeping a close eye on what that wool looks like.

“I am so happy with what we bought today. Exactly what we will do with these rams depends on our feed reserves.”

Julian and his brother Daniel run 3600 Merino breeding ewes that average 17.5 to 18.5 micron and cut up to 5.5kg of wool. They also run 500 crossbred sheep.

SALE SUMMARY

Offered: 40

Sold: 17

Average: $670

Top Price: $1200