The following is a press release from the Montana Wool Growers Association:
A large crowd gathered at the Eastern Montana Fairgrounds on September 13th for the 87th Montana Ram Sale in Miles City. Auctioneer Rob Fraser sold the 290 rams in three hours for an average price of $1,101.03 the second highest average in the sale’s history. Last year’s average was $1464.91.
High selling ram was the Targhee Stud consigned by Carolyn Green of Melville which sold to Judy Scanlan of Malin, Oregon for $5,300. Heinrich Ortmann of Wolf Point, Montana purchased a Sieben Live Stock Targhee ram for $3,900 for the second highest price paid. The Targhee Range Ram average was $1,177.
Heart lazy P of Miles City topped the blackface with a Suffolk ram lamb selling to Mahlstedt Ranch of Circle, Montana for $850. Forty-five Suffolk and Hamp/Suffolk crosses averaged $527.
Helle Ranch of Dillon sold a Rambouillet/South African Meat Merino cross for $2,600 to Flat Top Sheep Co. of Carey, Idaho and a pen of two Rambouillets to Sieben Ranch of Helena for $1,900 apiece. The average on the Range Rambouillets and crosses was $1,487.
Gene Langhus of Big Timber, Montana sold two lots of Columbia rams for $600, one going to Martinsdale Colony and the other to Ralph and Emily Brownfield of Hammond, Montana.
The sale sold steady despite the current state of the lamb market, with the finer wool breeds reaping the benefits of two years of record high wool prices.
Rams buyers came from Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.
Source: Montana Wool Growers Association
Posted by Haylie Shipp
