ANNA Villa White Suffolks at Weetulta achieved an average price of $1242 — its highest ever — at its 63rd annual on-property ram sale on Friday, September 19.
The top priced price ram sold for $2600 to Wayne and Samuel Young, of River Park Farming, who run about 4000 Merino crossbreds at Butlers Bridge, south of Port Pirie.
The Young family have been customers of the stud for more than 10 years and Samuel said they chose the ram for its impressive size, conformation and growth rates.
The May 2024 drop ram was the heaviest of the 88 rams up for sale, weighing in at 137.5 kilograms and measuring in the top 5 per cent of 2025 Lambplan figures for weaning weight and in the top 10 per cent for post weaning weight.
The biggest volume buyer was Kuruman Pastoral Company of Bowmans, which took home a dozen rams.
All but three of the 88 rams penned sold at auction.
Anthony and Suzanne Ferguson donated the sale proceeds from one of their Anna Villa rams to the Royal Flying Doctor Service and Heartkids.
The donation was made in recognition of the care provided by Heartkids to their granddaughter, Madeline Litchfield, who had two major heart operations as a newborn, and the services provided by RFDS to other family members.
The charity ram was bought by Clements Farming Group, Narridy, for $1800.
Mr Ferguson said the sale went exceptionally well and had attracted some new clients from beyond Yorke Peninsula, as well as those on the peninsula who had not bought rams for the past two years.
“It went beyond our expectations because with the limited numbers of sheep on Yorke Peninsula, we didn’t know how we would go,” he said.
“I think having a smaller number of rams in the shed and a better-quality line-up probably made a big difference because there was not a ‘tail’ that we’ve had other years.”
Mr Ferguson said there had been a dramatic fall in flock numbers around Australia because of the drought and trend towards cropping only.
The resulting lack of supply meant current strong lamb prices looked set to continue.
The National Trade Lamb Indicator shows lamb prices are 1150 cents/kilogram for mid-September, compared with just under 850c/kg at the same time in 2024 and under 450c/kg in 2023.
“Anybody who has managed to stay in sheep and keep their ewe numbers up will make money out of lambs over the coming two to three years,” Mr Ferguson said.