“I was going to stand up and tell them to calm down,” he said of the early bidding at the February 17 onfarm sale.
He knew he was in for a good day when Bendigo Station stepped up and paid $3500 for the first of the 18-month rams on offer.
By the end of the sale 68 of the 72 rams had been sold at an average $2196, a $700 gain over last year.
“It’s exciting,” Lucas said.
The highest price was $4000 on two lots, one bought by Cecil Peak Station and the other by Spotts Creek Station, near Wanaka.
Lucas said he didn’t know what the greatest influence was on the big price increase, with both Merino wool and lamb meat values much higher than a year ago.
“I just know they’ve all come together and we’re in a fortunate position.
“We’ve made some big steps in the last few years.”
After the excitement of the bidding in the first part of the sale, patient buyers were able to buy good rams at good value, he said.
“We thought there were one of two bargains later on, one at $900 and others between $1000 and $1500. They were all pretty good.’’
Indications were that wether lambs from the rams’ first breeding season would be taken through for sale, by which time the farmers should have up to 20kg of meat a lamb plus about 3kg of good, fine wool, Lucas said.
“The meat schedule is looking stable so they should be doing well out of that.”
Over more than a decade the Nine Mile team, led by stud classer Jayne Rive, had put a lot of focus on genetic gains in eye muscle as well as fat cover and wool quality and it was all paying off.
Eye muscle was important in making Merino sheep more resilient and able to carry them into winters.
“It makes them good doers,” Lucas said.
High country stations in the Wakatipu area are major clients for Nine Mile. Higher-payer Cecil Peak bought 10 rams, as did Walter Peak Station.
The biggest buyers were Gundy and Lisa Anderson of Bog Roy Station at Omarama who bought 15 rams. Lucas described the long-term clients as his best advertisement.
Fellow Central Otago farm Bendigo Station bought six rams.
Lucas said he breeds “a hell of a lot” of rams every year and put up the 72 animals in this year’s auctions based on them being in the best 10% to 20% on estimated breeding value and high muscle traits.
Once all the rams are taken off the property by their buyers Lucas and his team will set up for the private sale of the next 75 best rams. They will be at set prices below the auction levels.
Rive joined the stud when it was set up in 1998 and has driven the genetic gains since then.
“We’re proud of the type of Merino we’ve developed that really is a dual-purpose animal,” she said.
“We strive to strike a perfect balance between wool production and meat production.”
