THE team at Tipperary Poll Dorset stud Walkaway, has let slip some big news they've been keeping under wraps, with the arrival at their property earlier this year of a $25,000 stud sire from Ulandi Park Poll Dorset stud, Marrabel, South Australia.
Ulandi Park 137-17 first caught the attention of Tipperary stud principal Randal Levett at last year's Adelaide Royal Show, but it took a bit of work for Mr Levett to convince the Ulandi Park team to let it come home to WA with him.
"Negotiations kicked off at the show last year when I first saw him but they didn't come to fruition until October," Mr Levett said.
It was longer still before the ram made it to WA, finally arriving in January and is now working within the Tipperary stud ewe flock.
Mr Levett has bought genetics from Ulandi Park previously.
"We've had a lot of success in the past with Ulandi Park genetics and this was a ram I couldn't go past," he said.
"I guess it's a pretty good indicator that we've got faith in the industry."
Sired by Aberdeen 217-14, which had been purchased by Ulandi Park for $14,000, and out of Ulandi Park 199-15, the ram had LambPlan figures including 0.5 BWT, 11.3 WWT, 17.0 PWT, -0.9 PFAT, 1.8 PEMD, 4.5 LMY, -0.7 IMF, 2.2D, 7.0 SF, 210 C+ and 133 LEQ as of August 2018.
When asked what stood out about the ram, Mr Levett said it was the complete package.
"It was a combination of structural correctness and LambPlan figures," Mr Levett said.
"There were no specific stand out figures because they were so balanced and to get that on a structurally correct sheep is hard to find so I had to twist their arm a bit for them to let him go."
In other news at Tipperary, the stud has recently taken charge of the Hosking family's Woodgrove Poll Dorset stud, based at Northampton.
Negotiations for the take over started in February with the sale consisting of 200 stud ewes pregnancy tested in lamb to Shirlee Downs and Dongadilling blood rams, just over 100 ram lambs and just over 100 ewe lambs, which now call Walkaway home.
The sale was conducted through Landmark Geraldton with local livestock representative Murray Paterson saying it was a great opportunity for the stud to stay local when it became clear Mr Levett was interested in purchasing stud Woodgrove.
"There was an opportunity with Randall to keep the stud in the local area which is great for Woodgrove clients," Mr Paterson said.
"And for Randall, it was a good opportunity for him to get his stud numbers up as he moves his business forward."
When asked what the plan was for the Woodgrove stud operation, Mr Levett said it would be business as usual.
"The plan is definitely to keep things going as is for the time being," he said.
"We'll keep them under the Woodgrove banner for the next couple of years at least and there is plenty of potential for growth as well.
"We're already in the area doing the job with Tipperary so this is a chance for us to expand our client base a little bit as well as adding a few more numbers into our operation."
Numbers of Poll Dorset rams on offer at the annual Chapman Valley Breeders ram sale aren't going to change according to Mr Levett, who plans to offer the same number of Tipperary and Woodgrove rams at the sale in order to meet the requirements of regular buyers from both catalogues.
"Ted was putting about 40-50 in each year and I was putting in about 50-60 so we'll keep it around that sort of amount going forward, depending on the seasons of course," Mr Levett said.
By selling alongside the Woodgrove sheep at the Chapman Valley fixture every year, Mr Levett is familiar with the sheep and knows them to be a good style with loads of potential.
"They're a good genuine line of ewes based on the Squiers family's Shirlee Downs and Dongadilling genetics down at Quairading," Mr Levett said.
"I look forward to seeing how they progress in the future, along with the progeny from the new Ulandi Park sire which will go to work with the Woodgrove ewes as well next season."
