Courtesy of Alastair Dowie, Stock & Land

AN AUSTRALIAN record for a Poll Dorset ram was set at $41,000 at Andrew and Caroline McLauchlan's Tasmanian-based Valma stud.

Mr McLauchlan said the price was a real surprise - "totally unexpected and quite humbling".

"We had a lot of interest but we didn't know how that would translate to the actual sale," he said.

The sale was conducted under the helmsman system and interfaced with AuctionsPlus.

He said because of COVID-19 restrictions, a lot of work was done to ensure videos of rams showed all of their structural aspects.

"He is a stand-out ram, he's very balanced and structurally correct with very good figures across the board," he said.

"He had great figures for birthweight to growth, muscle and eating qualities which are coming to the fore in what people are looking for in their rams.

"Rams that had good figures in those areas were definitely more in demand."

The top ram, Valma 200040, was one of a number sired by Felix 16-494, with an Australian Sheep Breeding Value shear force on day five (SHF5) of +0.70 and was in the top 5 per cent of the breed on the terminal carcase production index at 164.7.

The ram also had a weaning weight (WWT) of 11.3 and post-weaning weight (PWWT) of 19.1.

The buyer was the Patterson family, Kinellar Poll Dorsets, Canowindra, NSW, with Gooramma Poll Dorsets, Galong, NSW taking a 25 per cent share.