CLIENT TESTIMONIAL - Ian & Belinda Duncan, “Torrakina”, Inverell, NSW
In wetter than average years, Haddon Rig Merinos have impressed clients Ian and Belinda Duncan. In 2021, the Duncan’s recorded 45 inches of rain for the year.
The Duncan family runs 600 ewes at “Torrakina”, Inverell where the average rainfall is 30 inches (60% of which falls in summer). This is a far cry from Ian and Belinda’s previous life at Isis Downs Merino Stud, Isisford QLD where Ian managed 40,000 Merino ewes on 16 inches of rain and was a regular attendee at Haddon Rig auctions buying stud rams.
Like many others, the Duncan’s destocked during the drought years. When it was time to boost the numbers again, they purchased a run of quality Haddon Rig blood ewes from long term Haddon Rig clients, the Francis Brothers, “Gobothery”, Forbes.
“We bought mixed age scanned-in-lamb ewes and one and half year-old surplus ewes to restock,” he said.
“We had everything going against us last year and had some concerns about how they might handle the extreme wet, but we were quite impressed – the Haddon Rig’s do handle the weather,” Ian said.
The Duncan’s are also regulars at the Haddon Rig on-property sale, purchasing four rams per year for use at “Torrakina”.
They have been selecting their sires with a focus on frame and wool cut, looking for soft, bright, low microning wools to suit their environment.
At the 2022 general shearing in February the grown sheep averaged 6.5kg with the mixed age ewes testing 18.5 microns and the maidens 18 with a yield of 74%. At this year’s preg-scanning the maiden ewes had the great result of only 2% being dry.
“In our experience, the Haddon Rig rams have a lot more nourishment than others in the industry,” Ian said. “We have also found their longevity to be better – our Haddon Rig blood ewes maintain quality wool and character as five and six year old’s.”
CLIENT TESTIMONIAL - Chris Francis, “Gobethery”, Forbes, NSW
”We run a mixed farming operation consisting of a self-replacing merino flock, a self-replacing shorthorn cattle herd, dryland cropping and irrigation. Stuart Murdoch has been classing our ewes and selecting our rams for 15 years. The transformation of our sheep and their productivity is nothing short of extraordinary. The consistency of our sheep type and wools produced is something we are very proud of. Our ewes are large framed, highly fertile, cutting a soft white well-nourished wool and plenty of it. We have very few lines at shearing with the older ewes maintaining their terrific wool quality. We have zero body strike issues in untreated sheep which is a true indicator of Stuart’s attention to detail at classing.
Like most mixed farmers you need good people as your time is spread across multiple production systems. Stuart is a man we have come to trust and have learned so much from over the years. We have said for some time you would have to look far and wide to find a better hand on a sheep or a more passionate person in the merino industry; quantified by his recent appointment as stud classer at Haddon Rig, Roseville Park and Dunbogan. We have no hesitation in recommending Stuart to anyone seeking assistance with their sheep operation. Truly outstanding.”