SELECTIVE BUYING AT RAM FAIR

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28820, 14 February 1959, Page 6

SELECTIVE BUYING AT RAM FAIR

Romney Values Down By About Half There was again selective buying when the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s flock ram fair concluded with the sale of wool breeds at the Addington Show Grounds yesterday. Buyers showed a marked preference for the well brought out rams of the well-established breeders, and in the Romney section one breeder actually had a better average for his team of rams than last year though in this section of the sale the average price for all rams sold was only a little more than half of that set last year. Less than half the offering of Romneys was sold at auction.

Though there were also comparatively heavy passings of Corriedales the average. level of values was only a few guineas below last year and the leading breeders had fairly satisfactory sales.

'• Established Romney breeders had little difficulty in finding sales and for the better than average ram there was a steady demand. The quality of the top sheep was particularly good, but there was a definite tail end to the offering and these were not wanted.

Competition maintained about the same level throughout the sale, except towards the end when the gallery of buyers had dwindled there was a defihite slackening of interest, even for better types of rams. The sale was again topped by the estate D. Robertson (Gore) with three selling at lOOgns. The Merryvale rams were keenly sought,- and proved one of the features of the sale. For the 17 rams sold from the stud the average price was 57$gns, compared with 23 last year which averaged just under 64gns. Last year’s top price for the sale was made by the Merryvale stud at 200gns.

The Rose stud rams of F. H Chittock (Lincoln) met an equally good reception, in accordance with their quality, and the 13 rams sold averaged 47gns, with the top pen of two making 80gns, the second highest price for the sale. Last year the Rose rams averaged slightly more than 39>gns for seven and the highest price gained was 60gns. This must have been one of the rare occasions when a breeder made more this year than at th® sale last year. H. G. Pinckney (Invercargill) had the distinction of selling every ram which was offered on his behalf and the 35 rams attracted a considerable amount of interest in (he medium price bracket. The average price paid was more than 13$?ns with five rams realising 18gns.

The Ravenswood stud of the estate G. S. Taylor (Woodend), had another line which attracted competition and the sheep were well brought out. The 20 rams sold averaged better than 18$gns with the top pen of three bringing 27gns. T. A. Greig (Methven) sold one at 26gns. In' the. first Fun the Romneys averaeed 18$gns for the 200 sold out of 426 offered and in the second half the clearance was not as good—l2l sold out of 329 offered at an average price of just over 15$gns. This meant a clearance of 321 rams out of the total offering of 755 at an average price under the hammer of slightly more than 17$gns. compared with the 429 which sold last year at an average of 31 l-3gns. The best of the offering made from 35gns to lOOgns, good at 20 gns to 27gn§, average 12gns to 19 gns and others from Bgns to llgns. Corriedale Sale

Though the Corriedale sale opened on a rather weak note with only one of the first 12 pens finding a buyer at auction, in comparison with last year’s sale yesterday’s auction was not such a bad one. As was the case in other sections of the fair on Thursday, and also at the stud fair last week, buyers were selective,' and gave their chief attention to offerings from established breeders and showed a preference for good condition, big sheep. The result was that the good rams met a relatively free sale at prices a few guineas short of last year. For the lower condition and less attractive sheep, some of which came from areas hard hit by dry conditions, the demand fell away sharply and many of these did not find buyers at all at auction.

for sale 244 were passed in and for the 322 sold the average price was a shade over 16gns compared with the average of 20} gns for 410 sold under the hammer at last year’s fair. In comparisad with declines in average values in other sections of the sale' this could be considered a fairly satisfactory day’s trading. Top price of the sale was 32}gns which went to J. H. Grigg (Longbeach) for a single ram and he sold another at Signs. Last year' Mr Grigg, whose sheep are always a feature of the offering, reached up to 46gns. For 42 Longbeach rams the average ’ yesterday was IBjgns with pens selling from 12gns upwards. An excellent team of rams also came forward from the estate James Reid, Ltd. (Riversleigh, Darfield) . and for these there was a steady ' demand. Two pens each of five Riversleigh rams found buyers at 32gns (the best price for a pen) and 31gns and for 64 rams sold at auction the Reid rams averaged just on 20gns, the best average of the day for such a large individual entry. Outside the Longbeach and Riversleigh rams the next best price was 27gns for one from R. X. Millar (Southbridge). For the best of the rams yesterday values raged from 2Sgus to 32}gns compared with 30gns to 46g:6 at the last sale, average to good made from ISgns to 24gns <2ogns to 30gns last year) and plain from 7gns to 12gns against llgns to 20gns last year. As well as the breeders already mentioned there were useful teams of rams in the entry from several other sources. For 40 ranging from 16gns to 24gns F. C. Ridgen (Greendale) averaged ISlgns and for 50 A. E. Cross (Pine Farm, Bennetts) averaged a fraction more than 15gns with a price range of 9gns to 24gns. For a smaller selection of seven sold at auction the Ashburton breeder R. Robinson averaged 23}gns with prices from 20gns to 26gns and for 13 sold under the hammer M. and D. Petrie (Swannanoa) averaged 19Jgns with prices from 11 gns to 25gns. Little Demand The Lincoln sale had a very small following. The gallery included few more than auctioneers and their assistants, and competition was very limited. Of the offering of eight rams, all from W. M. Bisbell (Caythorpe, Blenheim) only two were sold at auction. These brought 20gns and 39gns with the higher priced one going to Winton. There was also little or no competition for halfbreds of which only four out of the entry of 29 were sold at auction. The pen of four from W. P. Belton, Ltd. (Waikari) brought 7gns each. Entries in the sections sold yesterday were (last year’s entries being shown in parenthesis):— Corriedale, 752 (786); Romney Marsh, 854- (609); halfbred, 45 (21), and Lincoln, 8 (6).

Of the 566 Corriedales put up