BKB Cradock hosted a very successful Merino ram auction on behalf of the Barkly-Oos Prestige group breeders on 21 January, delivering strong prices and high-quality breeding material.

By Gavin Isted

The Barkly-Oos Prestige group consists of Karien Schlebusch (Schlebusch Merinos), Lady Grey, Stephanus, Donnie and Peet Naudé (Naudés Nek Merinos), Barkly-East, Cobus Botha (Benvale Merinos), Barkly-East, Jambert and James Reeders (Lamont Merinos), Mossel Bay, Marx Van Rooyen (Wye Draai Merinos), Barkly-East and Pat Vorster (Morriston Merinos), Barkly-East.

Buyers were able to purchase good breeding material at reasonable prices. The most expensive ram was lot 7 of Cobus Botha, which was sold for R52 000 to Kosie and Vossie Pretorius of Barkly-East.

The average prices at this auction were significantly higher than last year. The average price of the rams was R14 567 (compared to R8 314 in 2025) and that of the ewes R2 130 (compared to R1 562 in 2025).

According to Marx van Rooyen, chairman of the group, Barkly-Oos has offered bull and ram auctions for many years. Tussen Berge’s first auction was in January 2019 and the last one in January 2024.

After the suspension of this auction, two BKB representatives took the initiative to form a new auction committee, and it was decided to establish a Barkly-Oos ram auction again and invite other stud breeders to provide rams for the auction.

The committee realised that herders were increasingly looking for rams of better quality than just standard herd rams. This has led to the auction eventually delivering stronger rams and noticeably better prices than in the early years.

The auction was held at the golf club in Barkly East. The auctioneer was Jovaan Cloete.

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