OUYEN-based Poll Merino stud Tamaleuca is on a roll.
Coming off the back of a rock-solid annual on-property ram sale in August, it has now swept through the showring at the Adelaide Royal and come home with the reserve grand champion Poll Merino ram.
Tamaleuca’s Danni Wilson says the large-framed, heavy-cutting two-year-old ram started out winning his class before going on to be sashed champion fine-wool August-shorn ram.
Danni says he was then named reserve grand champion behind the Collinsville super ram which just the week before had been named Australian ram of the year at the annual Dubbo national ram show and sale.
Mind you, the Tamaleuca ram – which measures just 16.1 micron, making him a genuinely fine example of a fine wool ram – has had his own share of successes on the show circuit.
“He won the fine-wool ram broad ribbon at Blackall in Queensland and backed that up with a matching broad ribbon at Hamilton Sheepvention,” Danni says.
“Tamaleuca Norman really is a beautifully natured, large-framed, fine-wool Poll who has done extremely well on the show circuit this year.
“And to be honest, I was pretty impressed we managed to come so close to the Collinsville ram – with his track record I didn’t really mind us placing second to him.”
Danni says they are also delighted that their own breeding program is throwing up such outstanding rams on a regular basis.
Their recent on-property sale saw 60 rams offered and sold to a high of $3400 and average of $1599 in one of the toughest seasons in years.
She says when homebred rams are having the success of Tamaleuca Norman it is confirmation their breeding strategies are paying off.
“This ram is a Tamaleuca product through and through, no outcross required,” Danni explains.
“And winning at Adelaide really is a major achievement.
“This is one of the premier Merino events on the calendar and we – and the industry – see success here as a big win.
“People say to us ‘What bloodline is that ram?’ and I always get a kick out of saying ‘Tamaleuca’.
“We also took two rams to the sale in Adelaide this year and they were both sold.”
That was no mean achievement as South Australia is having an even direr season than Victoria’s Mallee.
After having made the trip with her sheep, seen the countryside and spoken with local breeders, Danni has described conditions there as “terrible”.
“Not too many commercial woolgrowers are even bothering to hang onto their extra ewes at the moment, things are so tough,” Danni says.
“So while we did not get the money we had hoped for our two rams, in the end in this market just seeing both knocked down was a bit of a success in itself.
“And even here in the Mallee conditions are not getting any better.”
Tamaleuca’s ram sale success reflected their proactive marketing campaign this year, including visits to the Mallee Machinery Field Days and Wentworth Show seeing rams going to clients in both areas – including new buyers
The stud put up only 60 rams this year (the same as in 2023) because, as Danni points out, “you have to make a decision about where the market is and how many people might actually turn up on sale day”.
“At Tamaleuca our focus is very much on a dual-purpose sheep, but we work hard to keep them around a 19-micron average because once you start paying shearers you want to know the bales are going to get filled up,” she says.
Exclusively Poll Merino since 2020, Tamaleuca is today using ASBVs in tandem with its own program of muscle and fat scanning, combined with visual assessment, to drive its genetic progress.
“We still have a few quality rams available for private selection as we know buyers often wait until closer to joining to make decisions about ram percentages, adding new genetics to the mix, and just occasionally some look at their flocks and realise they might need more rams than they originally thought,” Danni says.
Further details are available from Tamaleuca Poll Merinos at tamaleuca@bigpond.com or 0427 269 493.
