TAMALEUCA Poll Merinos will stage its annual on-property ram sale on Friday August 30.
It is the showcase event for the Ouyen stud, which also sells at the Australian Sheep and Wool Show in Bendigo, the Adelaide Royal and the Hamilton ram sale, as well as the Wycheproof spring store ewe sale.
Kevin and Danni Crook had sale rams on show at this year’s Mallee Machinery Field Days, giving potential buyers a taste of what will be on offer at the end of the month.
Kevin says Tamaleuca was founded on Peppin bloodlines in 1986 with the purchase of 100 double stud ewes from Wanganella Flock #7.
He says just two years later they made the decision to introduce poll genes as it was clear that was the direction in which the industry was heading.
“Willandra bloodlines were also added in 1992 and we continue to source top sires to enhance our preferred breeding objectives,” Kevin explains.
“We closed down the horned stud in 2020 to focus on the higher, and increasing, demand for polls and now concentrate on a pure Poll Merino enterprise,” he says.
“In 2023 we joined sheep genetics and we have started to record Australian Sheep Breeding Values within our flock.
“We will be using this data as an added benefit to our stud, and while we will be taking all these figures into our breeding strategy we will also continue to use muscle and fat scananning and visual classing to help select our desired traits.”
Tamaleuca shears on a seven-month rotation, aiming for a 65mm staple length with exceptional soundness, and its adult sheep consistently produce an average 4.5kg of wool at each shearing.
Kevin says the stud is always pursuing a large-framed, heavy-cutting, good wool sheep – a sheep that doesn’t just survive but which thrives.
He says they must have the ability to walk and be good doers in all seasons.
“The Tamaleuca Merino is the true dual-purpose sheep both for meat and wool,” Kevin adds.
“In the last season our scanned pregnancy rate for all ewes was above 93 per cent – with plenty of twins showing,” he says.
“Our average lamb percentage is always in excess of 120 per cent, making our ewes – which are recognised as fantastic, calm mothers – some of the most fertile in the breed.”
While all studs see their ram sales as the shopfront of their business, the commercial clout of Tamaleuca has definitely been on show at the Wycheproof store sheep sale.
In 2023 a pen of Tamaleuca Merino ewes topped the sale – a position the stud has occupied there for many years.
Inspections for the on-property ram sale will open at 10.30am on August 30, with the sale – which will also be on AuctionsPlus – starting at 1pm.
Further details are available from Kevin Crook on 0427 921 037 or tamaleuca@bigpond.com
