The heated bidding reached a top of $8600 for the record-setting two-year-old ewe, which was paid by Graham and Matthew Coddington, Roseville Park Merino stud, Dubbo.

Matthew Coddington, who runs 4200 stud ewes, said the plain-bodied ewe was the type of mules-free sheep they were looking to incorporate into their operation.

“The ewes is mules free, not bare breech, and delivers a productive amount of wool, we don’t want to put our heads in the sand about the mulesing issue because that is the way the industry is moving,” he said.