The Sammon Bros Poll Dorset stud is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its annual ram sale on its Bungeet property.
This year’s sale will be held on Friday, September 20 at 1pm.
In rececnt years, the stud has been breeding rams with special emphasis on more meat in ratio to liveweight.
Bill Sammon said this meant higher yielding lambs for producers which was especially important when selling over the hooks.
“If we can produce a lamb with at least 1kg more weight, we gain somewhere between $7 and $8 per head,” Mr Sammon said.
“Our Stockscan figures this year are the best we have ever had.”
In 1985, George Spring from Katandra offered to hold a joint sale in Shepparton and the arrangement continued for about five years, before Sammons went on their own.
There was already a ram sale run by the Australian British Breeds Society and Poll Dorset Association.
However, this sale drew large numbers of sheep and vendors were then restricted to only a few pens each.
“Before these restrictions, we were selling a least 35 rams at this sale. So it made sense to have our own sale,” Bill said.
“Some of our buyers by then had approached us to have first pick of our flock rams.
“You can only do this once, so having our own sale gave them this opportunity.”
Four years ago when COVID-19 hit, the Sammons moved the sale to their property at Bungeet.