Kojonup fleece fetches 1534c

The Banks family of Kojonup were celebrating their 2017 wool harvest rewards after receiving top values at the Western Wool Centre’s auction room last week.

Richard and Leonie Banks and their daughter Sarah, were very pleased with the prices received through Dyson Jones for their offering of 78 bales of September-shorn fleece wool which all sold to a top-price of 1534 cents/kg greasy.

The Banks’ 12-bale top-line of 17.7 micron wool had a yield of 69.3 per cent, length of 95mm for 12 months growth and a strength of 39.

“It has been a tight year, with low rainfall, but we have managed well by feeding out an extra 200 tonnes to keep the ewes in good condition and our May/June lambing was over 100 per cent,” Mr Banks said.

Mrs Banks, who woolclasses the family’s YH20/Yolander clip, said the yield was slightly down this year because of the season, but the fleeces had very low mid-break, which was a huge bonus.

The Banks have been on Cranmore bloodlines for more than 40 years and run a 5000 self-replacing merino and poll merino flock.

“We appreciate the low coefficient of variation in our wool, which is derived from the infusion of the next generation of Cranmore rams we buy every year,” Mrs Banks said.

“Over the 10 lines we offered today, the average CV was 15.”

The Banks have a further 80 bales of fleece wool to market plus lambs wool.