A South Australian Merino breeder has sold a ram for what he said was the highest price Australia had seen in more than 30 years.
The general manager of Collinsville Stud Merinos at Hallett in SA's Mid North, Tim Dalla, sold the poll merino ram for $115,000 at a private sale last weekend.
Mr Dalla says the 178-kilogram prize-winning sheep, a Collinsville Emperor 395, "stands out".
"He just holds his head up proud and looks at you over the rail. [He's] a terrific-looking ram," he said.
"This is the highest price paid for a merino or poll merino since 1989."
Merino SA president Joe Dahlitz described the recent sale as one that was "definitely out of the box".
"That price is well and truly above the norm," he said.
"I expect the top end of the market to be very strong, but I am not saying I would expect to see half a dozen or 10 rams make $100,000."
He said he expected to see sales at the Adelaide ram sale, and at some on-property sales, of "$20,000, $40,000 maybe even $50,000", but it depended on the auction system.
"I haven't got a crystal ball, but there is a lot of confidence out there at the moment that ram sales will go well."
Tony Brooks, from Brooks Merino Services, purchased the sheep on behalf of Western Australia-based Luke Ledwith, the principal of Kolindale Merino and Poll Stud.
Mr Brooks said the ram caught his eye at the end of September.
"I first saw him last year, so straight away you could tell he was going be a very big sheep," he said.
"For a ram like that of that quality, they don't come along every day. It takes a sheep like that to make that sort of money."
Mr Brooks credited Mr Dalla's breeding for the quality of the ram and said his buyer was "over the moon".
"[Mr Ledwith] loves big sheep — this one's very big — and he loves good wool," he said.
"This one's got great wool.
"[It's] just a rare combination you just don't get everyday."
