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The 2024 top cut of Australia's terminal, maternal and composite ram studs

The Land - By Andrew Norris - Updated January 2 2025 - 7:31am, first published 5:00am

This year's meat, dual purpose and composite ram market may not have had the highs of last year, but it has better reflected a less erratic lamb market.



The trade lamb indicator spent most of the first half of the year at 550-700c/kg before lifting in July to sit at 775-870c/kg thereafter, while tough seasonal conditions in the more southerly regions of the country also weighed on lamb producers' confidence.

The top 10 included eight shedding breed studs, six Dorper/White Dorper, one Ultra White, two Poll Dorset studs - one being part of Oberon stud Tattykeel's offering who's Australian White sale was also the only representative from that breed - plus one White Suffolk stud.

Agent, Randal Grayson, at Forbes Livestock, Forbes, NSW, said the shift to shedding breeds has been a gradual build.

"Once upon a time they were known as the exotic breeds and had to be penned separately at the saleyards," he said.

However, demand through winter and an increased acceptance by processors and consumers had resulted in more Victorian buyers coming north and purchasing Dorpers in particular when their local lamb supplies were seasonally low.



"The last couple of years we've seen they were actively strong on the shedding breeds (at the saleyards), especially the better end of the Dorpers," Mr Grayson said.

"We saw this year in the winter months at Forbes for the first time 10 and up to 20 per cent of the yarding as shedding breeds.

"Only two weeks ago Dorpers topped the lamb market at $297.20/head at Forbes."

Once upon a time they were known as the exotic breeds and had to be penned separately at the saleyards.

- Randall Grayson, Forbes.

While we've listed the top 10 studs here, there were also a handful that just missed the cut, but also exceeded a $3000 average price - a level that seems tantalisingly close for a huge number of vendors across the industry.

That handful includes Kaya Dorper and White Dorper, Narrogin, WA, averaging $3227 for all 104 rams offered and sold; Melashdan Dorper and White Dorper, Tumby Bay, SA, averaging $3118 for all 102 rams offered and sold; The Cliffs Australian White, Boomey, NSW, averaging $3112 for all 78 rams offered and sold, and Red Hill Australian White, Wongarbon, NSW, also averaging $3112 for all 78 rams it offered and sold - these studs also consolidating that dominance of the shedding breeds among the top end of sales.