Wynand du Toit, his family and staff, celebrated the 50th year of existence of the Suidplaas Dohne Merino stud, at the occasion of the stud’s production sale, held on the 10th of August 2022. At the sit-down dinner, Mr. Wynand du Toit and his wife Madre, enlightened the attendees on valuable lessons learnt and also milestones reached during the studs history. A presentation made by Frans Hugo on behalf of OVK, was another highlight of the proceedings. This stud is not only one of the older studs in the Dohne Merino industry, but it is also the largest in terms of ewe numbers as well as number of rams supplied. The sale of a total of 112 not pampered rams for the average price of R18,263 can surely be added to the achievements of this major enterprize. The ram JG211150 was sold at the top price of the day to the Schoonwinkel family farming on Swartsdam also in the Bredasdorp district. This twin born ram had breeding values of: weaning weight direct +4.502 kg; weaning weight maternal -0.313 kg; number of lambs weaned +2.03 percent; clean fleece weight +0.357 kg; fibre diameter -1.199 micron; general merit 22.70 units. It is also noteworthy that the second highest priced ram was sold at R75,000.
Excellent quality 4-6tooth ewes were sold at prices varying between R3,000 and R3,200.