Mr Gardner, who is the New Zealand Texel breed committee president, said he and wife Kay had been coming down to the Gore ram fair for the past eight or 10 years.
‘‘It is probably one of the top sales for all sheep in the country,’’ Mr Gardner said.
‘‘The prices are better down here, because there are more sheep.
‘‘They were on average, about the same compared to other years.
‘‘The quality of stock is probably as good as anywhere.’’
This year they brought two Romney and two Texel rams to sell under their Kallara stud name.
They sold three of the four, including a Texel ram for $3000.
‘‘We were pretty happy with that and the prices we got for the other two.’’
They also went home with another Texel ram bought from Joy and Nathan Dodd, of Glenvale Texel Stud, Glenham, which they bought for $1500.
He said he thought those selling Romneys and Perendales got some ‘‘pretty good’’ outcomes from the sale last week.
Mr and Mrs Gardner had downsized from an all-beef operation to move to a 23ha property near Ashburton in 2017, and now just focused on their two stud operations.
That same year they won the Mint Lamb Competition trophy at the New Zealand Agricultural Show in Christchurch.
Mr Gardner said the dairy industry had an considerable influence on the way he sold his rams.
‘‘Where we used to sell 50 rams [to farmers] within a 10km to 20km radius, there are all dairy farmers there now, so we always come down here to have a look.’’
He said sheep numbers were dropping all over the country.
‘‘It is not going to get any better.
‘‘We need 500,000 more sheep for the markets, not 500,000 more trees.
