SPECIAL SALE OF MERINOS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27308, 26 March 1954, Page 15

SPECIAL SALE OF MERINOS

BLACKFORD STUD DISPERSED ; 1273 SHEEP REALISE £15,491 1 The Blackford Merino stud, estab- , lished by the late Mr R. C. Todhunter i in 1920. was dispersed at an auction Sale held at the Addington Show 1 Grounds yesterday. The total offering of 1273 sheep of all ages realised £15,491. The sale was the largest disk persal of stud sheep to have been held in Canterbury for at least 15 years. 1 There was a very large attendance - of Merino breeders from Central Otago to Blenheim, and from the outset the ‘ sale was an excellent one, especially t for the ewes and ewe lambs. The i ewes, totalling 930 head, were well- - grown sheep, and carried a good amount of wool. The rate of selling was very fast, ■ some of the lots being knocked down 1 in less than 45sec. All the ewes and 1 ewe lambs were offered in lots of 10, f and the stud rams were offered singly. The ram lambs were offered in lots - of five and 10. r The sheep went to widespread des- ' tinations. Buyers from Oamaru, Crom- ! well, Omarama and Kurow took a good . share of the ewes, while numbers were , bought by halfbred breeders on the plains. Although Merino breeders x from Marlborough attended the sale, not many sheep were bought by them. * The sale began on the one-shear ewes, and the demand was very keen. ’ The 930 ewes realised 10,395gn5, t averaging just over llgns a head. The r one-shear ewes, of which there were - 160, realised a total of 2190gns, averaging 132gns a head. A total of 995gns * was obtained for 110 three-shear sheep, averaging 9gns each, whereas 210 . sound-mouthed ewes were sold for . 1985gns, averaging slightly more than ? 9Jgns a head. An offering of 160 ewe lambs averx aged slightly more than 9Jgns, while * 140 ram lambs averaged 9sgns. . Values for ewes were:— ; Best one-shear, 18gns to 27gns; others r Bgns to 13gns. Best two-shear, 15gns to 22£gns; , others sgns to 13gns. Best three-shear, 16gns to 22|gns; others 7gns to llgns. 1 Best four-shear, 13gns to 22|gns; others 6gns to 12Jgns Best sound-mouthed, 13gns to 19gns; I others sgns to 12ans. Old ewes, sgns to 7gns. Best ewe lambs, to 24gns; ottiers, ’ 6gns to lOgns. There was not a strong demand for , the rams, although the best drew very . keen competition. The top price was , 420gns for a two-shear ram, the parentage of which went back to a popular ■ Australian strain. The next price was 310gns for a late-shorn one-shear ram t which, although not mature, had a very , even body. These two top prices were far above - the general prices paid for rams. Three-figure prices were realised for ' four other rams, which made 150gns, 1 lOgns, 105gns and lOOgns respectively. Of the 43 offered 17 made 40gns or more. Eighty flock rams which were offered during the sale, met very little demand, and most were passed.