The Close family have shown off their cattle for two years as part of the Stock & Land sponsored Beef Week, and they jumped at the opportunity to be involved with the new Stock & Land Sheep Week.
Anthony Close said opening the gates of their Culla, near Harrow, property Kurra-Wirra to show their
Red Angus and Red Senegus stud cattle had been a great way for people to learn about the breeding operation.
He said their involvement had built interest and was a great way of showing people some of the stock that would be offered for sale later in the year.
Mr Close said they tried to maintain the profile of both the cattle and Merino seed stock operations, for example by doing advertising throughout the year.
While the Kurra-Wirra Merinos and Poll Merinos are on display at Sheepvention, and the family will offer a pen of five rams at the multivendor sale next year, Mr Close said hosting a Sheep Week open day would be another good way to get people out to the stud.
“If the studs in an area are all open on the one day, people can take the time to go and visit them.” As the fourth generation farmer at Kurra Wirra, Mr Close is excited to show people the way they have used performance recording, breeding technologies and investment in genetics to increase their sheep’s productivity.
The Close family, including his father Robert, has maintained their wool quality and density while increasing growth and early maturing.
He said in the past few years, they had ramped up their performance recording to ensure they can prove their sheep have the same high growth figures as South Australian and Riverina sheep.
He is particularly excited to display the first drop by Western Australian ram Anderson 120096. Some of his sons will be offered for sale at Kurra-Wirra later next year.
“They were the pick of the drop at weaning,” Mr Close said.
“Anderson 120096’s ASBVs are phenomenal – he’s a trait leader in post weaning weight at 6.1kg, yearling weight 8.5kg, yearling clean fleece weight 37kg and yearling WEC -92.”
The Close family also plans to have young stock on show, but because Sheep Week will be in June, they would not be able to bring ewes and lambs in for display.
Mr Close encourages commercial producers to drop into studs during Sheep Week and have a chat to the owners and staff, to find out more about their breeding goals and the measures they’re taking to achieve them.
He said they measure and record birthweights of stud lambs and were collecting other maternal traits and information about fertility, because he said they were as important for Merino producers as they were for maternal and prime lamb operations.
