Bruce Hamblin is a true Aussie battler

The Toolleen Corriedale stud principal remembers the journey to the big smoke from his family's property, 35 kilometres east of Bendigo, used to take a lot longer before roads were asphalted and cars were capable of highway speeds.

"My grandfather first showed at Melbourne Show in 1924 and we've continued every year since," Mr Hamblin, 77, said.

"He started off showing large black pigs and, back then, he would take them in a hard-tyred truck which took about 12 hours to drive the 86-mile trip."

Nowadays, Mr Hamblin's adult-aged children show and judge at the show but he still keeps a close eye on the event, despite it being cancelled for the last two consecutive years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

READ MORE:

"Over the years I've shown Australian ponies and Clydesdales at the Melbourne Show, but my daughter does that now so it's nice to see the next generation involved in the event," he said.

"When I showed, my biggest year was showing 78 pigs, 17 sheep and five horses."

He claims to be the only bloke in Australia who has judged three species: sheep, horses and pigs, at more than 30 Royal shows across Australia.

Mr Hamblin's great-grandfather moved to Australia from Wales in 1864 where he set up a fine furniture and piano-making business at Kyneton.

"At one stage, my great-grandfather was the largest employer in Kyneton and he had up to 500 pianos, one of which my cousin owns," he said.

As a volunteer for a number of organisations and a life member of the local fire brigade, Mr Hamblin is not afraid of hard day's work and has seen his fair share of highs and lows.

"I had a Poll Dorset stud and had run that since 1958 and had ran Corriedales since 1945 and when Johnes [disease] came around in around 1996," he said.

"The agriculture department at that stage felt they were going to eradicate it and at the time they thought they had the authority to destroy our stock which we later found out they really didn't.

"It was the biggest disaster in the sheep industry and 147 people got destocked. I was one of them and had 2000 sheep destroyed."

Ovine Johnes disease or OJD causes chronic infections in the bowels of sheep and invariably leads to the death of the animal.

OJD has also been found in cattle, goats, deer and camels and often causes thickening of the bowel wall which interferes with the normal absorption of food.

"I left school when I was 12 and after Johnes, I've always said I want to live to 150 just to annoy the department of ag, the VFF and the National Party who I think were responsible for my sheep being killed," Mr Hamblin said.

The consequences of losing his entire sheep flock were devastating for Mr Hamblin, who said it took several years for him to rebuild his breeding program.

"I lost everything, I went without an income for three years and there was no government support in those days," he said.

"Today we would have had household and income support, but in those days there was nothing.

"I knew a lot of people who lost their farms or their lives, and their marriages and it was all about the sheep because nothing was put in place for the farmers."

Ten years after his flock was destroyed, Mr Hamblin re-established the Toolleen Corriedale stud which takes up a large part of his time on the farm these days.

The flock consists of about 1100 sheep including 600 ewes using his own bloodlines and from the Archer family of Quamby Plains, Tasmania.

"I used to have 2000-3000 but over the years I've cut back," Mr Hamblin said.

"I'm 77 and I still do all my own work and crutch my own sheep but I've reduced the flock so it's easier to manage.

"I still shear all the older lambs we sell and that's an excuse to stay fit."

Most of his lambs are sold at Bendigo after Christmas in February and March.

He shares farms with another farmer who sowed 200/ha of canola this year which returned an average yield of more than a tonne to the acre.

Like many farmers across Victoria, ideal seasonal conditions have benefited the sheep and crops after a reasonably wet and mild year.

"The sheep have never looked better," he said.

However, Mr Hamblin said the sheep did lack the finish they had in previous years, largely due to a tough winter.

Besides his Corriedale interest, Mr Hamblin still breeds Clydesdales horses and Australian Ponies.

On some of his higher country at Toolleen are a mob of 12 Clydesdales which regularly attend field days where they are used to pull ploughs, harrows and carts.

At one stage, he also ran an on-farm piggery with up to 1000 pigs, before moving away from that part of the business in the 1990s.

"I still have my Australian Pony stallions which I breed with ... I've bred horses for nearly 60 years," he said.

Mr Hamblin takes a keen interest in assisting Victoria's next generation of Corriedale breeders and often works with colleges and students who are using the breed in their curriculum.

Honesty is one of the most important traits a farmer should have, according to Mr Hamblin, who said he learnt a valuable lesson from his late father as a child.

"My old dad used to say 'don't sell anything to anybody that you wouldn't buy for yourself'," he said.

"That's how I like to think of how I've lived my life."