Dorper ewes top at $456 at Plevna Downs East dispersal sale

John and Karen Elmes, who are in the process of selling their 6264 hectare (15,477 acre) Augathella property, dispersed their commercial dorper flock, consisting of 3906 Dorper ewes, on August 3.

The sale of the 3,906 ewes on AuctionsPlus has been hailed an extraordinary success, with the young ewes topping at $456 and $455 for five lines.

The 3506 ewes scanned in lamb averaged $436.64, with the 400 ewes mixed age scanned undectable making $231

The impressive draft was purchased by one buyer, the Australian Livestock Company, Terrick at Blackall.

The sale was the first run of a genuine flock dispersal of approximately 8000 Dorpers.

Garry Cartwright assessed the 3906 ewes and were parallel assessed by Sam Clements from Elders Cunnamulla.

There is 4,000 Dorpers still to be offered via AuctionsPlus on August 17, including 840 heavy wethers s/o '20 drop and 600 wether lambs April '21 drop.

The sale will conclude with 2000 maiden ewes s/o '20 drop and 600 ewe lambs April '21 drop to be sold on Tuesday August 31, as well as Rams on offer.

Vendor John Elmes said they were extremely happy with the sale result, which went above their expectations.

"It's just that sort of climate at the moment, any females of whatever breed seems to be demanding very good money and certainly above our expectations," Mr Elmes said.

"Our Dorpers sold to one successful buyer, so they'll keep all the bloodlines together and they're going to have a cracking lambing stud on the first of September.

"The buyer (Australian Livestock Company) is obviously getting right into the Dorpers and they're chasing scanned in lamb females, which will be on deck very quickly, to start repaying what they paid for the mother.

"I'd like to congratulate the under bidders on those lots."

The Elmes family were one of the first property's in the region to use exclusion fencing.

Related: Plevna Downs East auction on August 27

Mr Elmes is expecting strong interest for their organic wether and maiden ewe lamb lines set to go under the hammer in a few weeks time.

"We've got about 1200 organic wether lambs coming up in two weeks time and then in three weeks time we've got about 2500 maiden ewe lambs," he said.

"We'll assess them next week and the females will be about three weeks away, so we'll start advertising for them in about two weeks time.

"We're expecting strong interest for our ewe lambs, simply because there completely organic and for any of the organic buyers there right to slip into them.

"With the restocker market still strong, I think those lambs will definitely sell to a restocker."

Elders Charleville branch manager Keith Richardson, said the sale was an "extraordinary success".

"The sale's success is a tribute to the Elmes family who presented a good line of Dorpers. I think this will be one of the biggest dispersals of Dorpers in Queensland in recent times," Mr Richardson said.

"People have been building their breeder numbers up, so it certainly has created a lot of interest.

"The five lines at the top made $455-$456 per head, but the 3506 scanned in lamb ewes from 14 months to five-years-old, they averaged $436.64.

"The ewes were all assessed by Gary Cartwright, who is a very good assessor, as well as Sam Clements from Elders Cunnamulla, who was there doing parallel."

Mr Richardson said they received a lot of inquires regarding the dispersal, but they all went to one home.

"I'd say the company who bought these sheep will be more than happy with their purchase because they've bought a lot of Dorpers that are all scanned in lamb and are going to perform well," he said.

"The buyer has plans to put these Dorpers into a breeding operation, where they've got a lot of country and a fair bit of aggregation around Terrick."

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