Last of 2024 ram sales at Matawhero yards in Gisborne was a boomer

The Te Ruanui ram sale on Friday at the Matawhero Saleyards matched the warm temperature with some high prices paid for Craig and Yvonne Brownlie's 139-head line-up. Photo / Murray Robertson

The last of the big stud ram sale of the season at Matawhero saleyards on Friday was a boomer — a fitting final sale at the yards this year.

Craig and Yvonne Brownlie, from Te Ruanui Poll Dorsets at Waerenga-o-Kuri, put up 94 Poll Dorsets, 22 Poll/Tex and 23 Suffolks rams for sale by auction.

“We’ve managed to keep adding meat to them, volume and carcase, early maturity, fast-growing,” Craig said.

“Lambs away early at weaning, that’s the aim.”

Auctioneer Neville Clark, from PGG Wrightson, said the 2024 edition of the stud’s rams was excellent.

“They’ve been on the hills all the way through and they have plenty of bone and substance.”

The "boys" from Te Ruanui looked fantastic in the pens at Matawhero yesterday and prices reflected their condition. Two in pen 1 sold for $3000, another for $2900. Photo / Murray Robertson

Emma Pollitt, PGG Wrightson’s genetics representative, summed it up when she said: “Craig and Yvonne have done a lovely job with them”.

The prices paid reflected the high quality of the line-up, with the sale off to a rocketing start with a high price paid of $3000 for two of the four animals in Pen 1. Another went to $2900.

The big numbers kept on keeping on. The top price in Pen 2 was $2300; Pen 3 $2400, plus two at $2300; and Pen 4 $2300. It demonstrated the consistency of the sale.

A full sale report and more pictures will be in the Rural pages next Thursday.

• The final sheep sale of the year, preceding the Te Ruanui rams, drew a small yarding of about 400 head. The top dollar involved a line of shorn new-season lambs in the store pens that sold for $120. Most of the sale were “tailenders” and they went from $20 up to $50.