STUD rams sold to $6250 at the 21st annual Wyndamah Poll Dorset ram sale near Swan Hill yesterday.

Graeme and Andrew Oxley's 22 special rams averaged $1734 and the 150 flock rams, which sold to $1100, averaged $534 for 112.

They also sold 23 ewes for $150-$300, averaging $187.

Andrew Oxley said the clearance rate of about 79 per cent was better than last year's sale.

Prices for stud rams also were higher than the $1750 paid last year for the only two that sold.

Graeme Oxley said he was delighted with the result, given the extreme and prolonged drought which had slashed ewe numbers in the flocks of his traditional clients.

"To be able to pick up some new clients out of other areas - and among leading industry-focused studs - is pretty gratifying," he said.

"I'm very proud of the rams. They're probably the most even we've ever put on the market."

Bordertown breeder Graham "Harry" Day bought the two top priced rams for $6250 and $5000.

Mr Day, who has bred Poll Dorsets at his Allendale stud since 1956, also is a renowned breeder of Suffolk and White Suffolk sheep and Poll Hereford cattle.

A first-time buyer of Wyndamah sheep, he said one of the rams caught his eye at Hamilton and the other at the Adelaide show.

Both were sired by the same ram, which was bought by Rob Hart, of Glen Devon, for $7500 at the 2006 sale.

An autumn drop 2007 lamb, Lot 2 was part of the team which won the bare shorn pair of rams at this year's Royal Melbourne Show and came second in the same class at the Adelaide Royal.

Mr Day paid the top money for Lot 11, which was judged second in the spring drop pair of rams at this year's Adelaide Royal.

"I thought they were both good ones to follow," Mr Day said.

Volume buyers included Warrawee Pastoral, of Kyalite, which bought 11 rams at $450-$500, Geppets Gate, of Rainbow (11 rams at $450-$1100), Fox Pastoral, at Merton (10 rams at $450-$550 and six ewes at $150-$250), and CG&G Kay, of Cosgrove South (seven ewes at $150 and one ram at $1700).

There were 46 registered bidders, with buyers from Albury, Avoca, Balranald, Bendigo, Beaufort, Cosgrove South, Devenish, Euston, Hamilton, Kyalite, Naracoorte, Narrandera, Managatang, Merton, Ouyen, Rainbow, St Arnaud, Swan Hill, Tarlee, Tyrendarra and Woomelang.