By Jan-Hendrik de Villiers
Winston Woollies’ 24th annual production auction was held on 5 February at James Miller’s farm Winston at Cathcart in the Eastern Cape.
Butch James of Cathcart in the Eastern Cape bought the most expensive ram, a polled Merino, for R13 000.
According to James, this ram’s price is attributed to its balanced conformation and because there is currently a good market for polled rams, especially if they have good wool length and quality.
All 43 Merino rams auctioned were sold at an average price of R6 320.
A total of 190 Merino ewes were offered at the auction and only 150 were sold at an average price of R1 646.
According to James, the younger ewes sold, but not the older full-calf ewes. “It has always been a tough market for open ewes. There are always open ewes in the area. It looks like there is a good market for pregnant ewes this year,” he said.
James believes that because there are so many open ewes in the area, the demand is low and the prices are therefore not good.
Although he expected the rams to sell well, it went better than he expected.
“Last year our average price for rams was R5 750, while our average price this year is just over R6 000,” said Miller.
Two bales of wool from the Winston farm were sold last year for a season record price of R260/kg (fat wool) each in the 2024-25 season. A new season record price was paid a week later for a bale of wool from the Kleiheuwel Trust at Bredasdorp for R300/kg (fat wool).
Tony Burger was the auctioneer and Future Auctioneers presented the auction.
