Two long-standing flocks under hammer

In the Elders sale on Thursday, November 10 just under 9000 ewes from two flocks with a long breeding history will be dispersed.

The two flocks to go under the hammer will be Jeremy and Sue Lefroy and family's Colvin flock, Moora and the Benedictine Community's flock, New Norcia.

The Colvin offering will comprise of 4300 ewes ranging from one-year-old through to 5yo and will include the family's stud flock, which was established in 1955.

Mr Lefroy, who is a Merino enthusiast, said the decision to disperse the flock was not a knee jerk reaction to the sheep industry in anyway but rather one that came down to succession planning which they started about seven years ago after he did the Rabobank Executive Development Program in Sydney.

"I am still really passionate about the industry and believe there is lot of hope and positives in the industry, but our three sons are not interested in running sheep so we decided now was the time to get out," Mr Lefroy said.

"We leased out the cropping side of the business six years ago and this was the next logical step for us moving forward.

"Even though we are getting out I still believe it is a very exciting time to be involved in the sheep industry.

"We believe sheep have a very important role to play in a farm business and this has shown up this season especially with frost damage locally. A simple, efficiently run Merino enterprise can relieve the pressures associated with 100 per cent cropping.

"A Merino breeding business is not complicated if you obey some simple rules and manage to adhere to them correctly.

"As I ceased cropping buying extra graded fodder retail short notice has been expensive during dry winters. This would not be a significant issue for a mixed cropping-livestock business.

"The nationally implemented Lifetime Ewe and More Lambs More Often programs have been and will result in sheep businesses becoming more resilient in dry seasons."

The Colvin stud was founded by Jeremy's grandfather Edward and father David on Cranmore bloodlines and these were used until 1980.

In 1980 the stud switched to New South Wales-based Pooginook stud as a base for its genetics when Mr Lefroy was a jackaroo there from 1980 to 1982.

A significant number of rams were purchased from Pooginook between 1980 and 1999, which saw the Pooginook traits infused right through the Colvin flock.

Since 1999 there have been no outside rams introduced to the flock which has seen 3000 to 4000 ewes mated annually.

The Lefroy family held on-property ram and ewe auction sales up until 2006 and since then has been selling rams privately on-farm.

In the 1980s and 1990s it was selling between 150-200 rams a year at auction not only locally but also into the Great Southern and Northern Wheatbelt.

Mr Lefroy said their breeding program had always had a strong focus on commercial traits and a strong focus on subjective selection.

"We have re-classed our ewes every year and have never just culled on age, if the ewe is producing well still and is sound we have kept it in," Mr Lefroy said.

The flock was classed by Brian Sherlock from the early 1960s through until 2002 when he died.

Mr Lefroy said their aim has been to breed a good framed, free growing, loose skinned animal with a bright, stylish, long-stapled, well-nourished wool.

"We have had a strong ethos on wool. It has to test well and have good characteristics," he said.

"I strongly believe in producing wool with a good objective test and this has seen us receive a premium when our wool is sold."

Colvin's mature breeding ewe flock for the last seven years has averaged 18.8-19 micron with more than a 5kg cut and more than 100mm staple length for 12 month's growth.

Colvin wool classer for the past eight years and past stud client Arnold Glover (who has classed in the area for the past 54 years) believes Colvin sheep produce wool that is equal to the best in the area.

"The sheep are free growing and good shearing," Mr Glover said.

"The wool is soft, long-stapled, stylish, well-nourished with a bold, well-defined crimp. It tests better than it looks and there is always demand for it from wool processors."

In terms of lambing Colvin switched to a July/August lambing in 2001 to better manage feed supplies and for past five years has achieved 100 per cent weaning (lambs weaned to ewes mated).

The 300 elite stud ewes on offer in the sale will be sold in lines of 100 head of a similar age.

The remaining lines will be sold in their age groups in b-train or four-deck size lines.

The 2yo to 5yo ewes are all May shorn and the lambs from these were weaned from October 10 to 19, while the hogget ewes (1yo) are August shorn.

When it comes to the Benedictine Community offering it will comprise of 3740 head ranging from woolly ewe and wether lambs through to 5.5yo (green tag) ewes, which are based on Woodyarrup bloodlines.

The Benedictine flock is on the market as the operation has decided to lease out the farm.

The history of the Benedictine flock goes back to the late 1840s and wool production was the engine room which underpinned the development of the New Norcia Mission.

The New Norcia Mission was taken up in the late 1840s and leased land peaked at about 400,000ha (just under 1 million acres) in 1890.

The owned land continued at a level of about 8100ha (20,184 acres) which it stands at today.

The Mission's first sheep (710 head) were purchased in 1847 by Rosendo Salvado from Northam.

The development of the wool production operation for the Mission was a huge undertaking with the sinking of wells, establishing out-stations, dipping, washing and shearing sheep before the wool was baled and transported to Perth where Salvado's agent George Shenton, sent it to London for sale.

Records show in 1883 Salvado commented "it is the sheep that provide for our food with their meat and sustain the Mission with their wool, in everything and always."

Salvado was also very proud to record the contribution of Aboriginal people to the operation stating European shearers could normally shear 25 sheep/day, whereas Aboriginal shearers at New Norcia were quicker shearing 80-100 sheep/day and did not tie up their sheep.

The sheep population for the Mission peaked in the 1870s at some 22,000 head and then again at this figure after the drought in the 1890s, with production at 32,000kg in 1877.

In terms of wool production this peaked in 1993 at 70,604kg from 12,675 sheep and lambs.

Today the Benedictine Community farm is very different from its early years with nearly 80pc cropped and only 4100 grown sheep being run.

The current sheep flock over the past six years has averaged 18.3 micron with a yield of 61pc from a summer shearing.