Photos of sale-topping rams from most studs show us a bare legged hogget ram with a very open, poll face and top quality wool.

Because of the absence of wrinkles these rams are often promoted as mules-free and lamb marking percentages of 130 per cent are not uncommon.

The sale catalogue for Trevor Ryan's Richmond stud at Quandialla lists 120 rams for sale, 33 singles, 73 twins, 13 triplets and one quadruplet.

This stud sold rams to Coddington Uardry, and Hynam Poll stud in Victoria. George Haylock, Old Springfield, Berridale was the volume buyer as he followed the Severn Park bloodline to Richmond.

Along the same fertility lines, the 53 Blink Bonnie ewes that were A1 joined in the current Merinolink sire evaluation, 16 scanned single foetus, 27 twins and seven triplets.

EXCELLENT results from stud ram sales are showing us the strong demand for dual purpose Merinos with ASBV's and meat and muscle traits ranking alongside wool quality attributes.

A few standouts:

THE resignation of Premier Berejiklian came at an awkward time for our state as she has been a careful leader throughout the pandemic and a new premier must supervise our exit from lockdowns.

Opposition leader Chris Minns was excellent in his remarks on the issue and he may be a future premier.

Our local councillors have hopefully noted the absence of "the politics of hate".

REPORTS of serious losses in cattle herds are disappointing and bloat, pulpy kidney and grass tetany are named as the causes of nearly all of the sudden deaths.

Valuable advice and opinions can be sourced from neighbouring farmers, rural suppliers, stock agents and Local Land Services vets.

Your stock agent always has his ear to the ground and can tell us what the leading lights in the beef industry are doing to deal with the problems that come with a lush season.

We often lose a lot more livestock in a bountiful spring than in a howling drought.

THE Evergrande collapse in China is causing worldwide concern.

The cutback in steel production has halved the bulk price of Australian iron ore and caused two of our West Australian mines to halt production for the time being.

Stock markets have corrected in most countries but a four per cent fall from record highs is really just a pause so far.

Our country's economic recovery from the COVID pandemic will depend on the effectiveness of vaccines to control the degree of sickness that may happen to our communities.

Chinese wool mills must feel the cutbacks in electricity use and this could be reflected in our auction markets.

PETER Moore of the Blink Bonnie Stud at Tarana advises that he will donate the proceeds of Lot 32 at their ram auction on October 15 to the NSW Cancer Council.

The young ram has 17 micron and 120 greasy fleece weight and he is by the sire that Kaye and Peter Moore entered in the AWI-sponsored sire evaluation trial at Newbridge.

FOR everyone who has problems with night cramps, please try a tube of Voltaren cream.

Old hands tell me that they wish they had found this product many years ago. It may not work for everyone but is keeps a lot of us in the big bed every night.

TWO good pacers with lovely actions have had nice wins at Bathurst in recent weeks.

Travis Bullock drove a good race as former Gold Crown winner Castalong Shadow completed his winning double and Bernie Hewitt piloted the cutely named Tom the Curious for his second win in a short while.

Like every good animal, these two horses are great to watch.

WEEK 13 saw an offering of 39,529 bales Australia-wide.

By the end of the week, we had seen only 30,570 of these bales with a 22.7 per cent passed-in rate. The EMI had moved down wards 2.27 per cent to an EMI of 1337ac/kg or a loss of 31ac/kg.

Power shortages in China and uncertainty over a large Chinese property developer seem to be the reason for this lack of positive sentiment.

Reportedly some provinces are being ordered by the Chinese government to reduce their power usage either by working short time or stopping all together.

Obviously, it is all manufacturing that is affected, not just wool. With power needs in China being up 15 per cent year-on-year and China's power being 56 per cent generated from coal this is an issue the Chinese government will have to face sooner rather than later.

Merino types dropped back 30-60ac/kg and crossbred wool dropped up to 40ac/kg. Any lots with some cotts or colour were more affected as overseas customers have become much more selective as their orders have started to fill up.

Italian interests still continue to be very active on their finer, freer types as they replenish their wool stocks post 2020.

With vaccination rates in the Northern Hemisphere lifting and these countries also moving into their autumn and winter you would like to think that this will help all wool demand.

Week 14 will see an estimated offering of 42,119 bales Australia-wide.

Richard Butcher, Nutrien Wool

SOME British humour:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: