NEW and old buyers who flocked to the annual Queenlee Merino ram sale on Tuesday did not have to wait long for the top-selling ram to be purchased.

Of the 50 rams up for sale, 32 were snapped up by buyers at an average of $1096.

The clearance rate matched Queenlee's 2020 sale and bettered its 2019 clearance rate of 62pc, while the average was down from $1700 in 2020 but up from $964 in 2019.

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Ralph Price of Kooringle, Pyramul took home the first ram up for bids our of 50 for a sale-high $2000.

The two-year-old ram (tag 106) boasted a clean fleece weight percentage of 97 per cent, measured a fiber diameter of 16.1, a comfort factor of 99.9, a standard deviation of 2.9pc and a 70.7pc yield.

Mr Price, a returned buyer to Queenlee Merino Stud, said the ram ticked a lot of boxes and "took my fancy".

"We've been buying here for a fair few years and they always offer up a good lot of rams," Mr Price said.

"We'll pick some better ewes to put this ram with, we'll join them in March and see how they go.

"Over the past couple of months we've had a heap of rain, in fact from March last year it has rained pretty much straight through, so I think it is the best season we've ever had.

"There will be plenty of feed around for the sheep this year and hopefully it can keep getting better."

Mr Price took home a total of two rams at an average of $1500 and was one of 13 registered bidders taking part in the Uralla on-property sale conducted by Schute Bell and Nutrien.

The Mabbott family of Kentucky were the sale's busiest buyers taking home nine rams at an average of $988.

Other prolific buyers included the Frazier family of Delveen, Uralla (three rams at an average of $866), Hamel and Co of Argyle (two rams at an average of $1000) and Adrian Betts of Mount Valley, Armidale (two rams at an average of $1050.

Queenlee Merino Stud principal Phil Carlon was pleased to see so many return buyers attend the sale.

"I was very pleased with the way the sheep have gone given they were born in a terrible year of 2019 then really bounced ahead last year after 10 and half inches of rain on them in December," Mr Carlon said.

"The top seller had a lot of good spinners wool on him, was a big growthy ram and he's been breeding really well here.

"We did have a couple of new buyers here amongst it which is always nice, while our returned buyers were back getting what they're after."

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