A Mornington Peninsula English Leicester stud has brought the sheep full circle, close to where the Australian “champion” of the breed, Ethel Stephenson, first set up.
It was a chance meeting, which led Nick and Vanessa Wootton to establish Upland, Main Ridge, Victoria.
Described as the ‘doyenne breeder’ of English Leicester sheep in Australia, Ms Stephenson established her Ostler’s Hill stud at Flinders, before moving to Benalla. Mr Wootton said he explained he wanted to set up a stud. “I said we lived on the Mornington Peninsula, but she was from Broken Creek, up country, and I was wondering if English Leicesters would do any good on the Peninsula? ‘Ooh’, she said, ‘I started off in Flinders’.”
The Woottons are showing their English Leicesters at the Australian Sheep & Wool Show (ASWS) Bendigo.
Ms Wootton said she was interested in crafts, such as natural dying and felting, and was advised English Leicesters were the ideal animal. “They have got this beautiful, beautiful fleece, which is long stapled, with excellent lustre,” she said.
The stud started with four ewes, with three lambs at foot. Currently the seven hectare property was running a flock of 28. Apart from Ostler’s Hill, Upland had used Kirsty Harker’s, Kaehlou’s, Devenish, bloodlines and a ram from Brenton Heazlewood, Melton Park, Whitmore, Tasmania.
“We are trying to diversify the bloodlines, a little,” Ms Wootton said. “We are just trying to improve what we have got, make sure the fleece is good, and getting a good shape.” Upland sheep had 32-38 micron wool, with up to a 300mm staple.
Ewes were joined in early April, to lamb in September and October, to coincide with better weather and feed. The sheep were cutting between four and a half to six kilograms of wool, and it was sold directly to craftspeople, or a Drouin buyer.
The English Leicester was also regarded as a meat sheep – with lamb from the Upland flock sold through a Balnarring butcher. When the Wootton’s first came to Upland, the land had been used as a horse property. They used the SoilKee method of pasture renovation, providing aeration, fertiliser and seed mix. Ms Wooton said she and Nick were hoping to spend more time on the farm, in future.
“We plan to retire to farming, full time,” Mr Wootton said.
