Buyers snap up 'rare occasion' at Pepperton's second last ewe dispersal

A flock dispersal of some of the highest-indexing White Suffolk and Poll Dorset ewes in the country has attracted the attention of interstate sheep buyers from four Australian states.

Pepperton Poll Dorset & White Suffolk stud, Elmore, sold 124 of 204 White Suffolk and Poll Dorset ewes at the Trewick family's second stage dispersal sale in northern Victoria on Wednesday.

Stud principals Roger and Dianne Trewick previously offered 270 ewes in their first stage sale in 2024 and will hold their final stage dispersal sale in October later this year, in conjunction with the stud's annual ram sale.

Mr Trewick said it was a bittersweet feeling to disperse the stud.

"There's not too many breeders that would have a better average index than ours on Lambplan," he said.

"A lot of our Poll Dorset and White Suffolk ewes are in the top 1 per cent on Lambplan for muscling.

"That's where you get your meat yield from and if you don't have any meat on the sheep, you don't get much of a chop or a leg of lamb."

The Pepperton stud was founded by the couple in 1993 and followed on from Mr Trewick's father's stud, Wharoonah Dorset Horn stud, which was founded on the same property in 1942.

"It was a very long time ago and he sold some ewes to Kismit sheep stud at Howlong, NSW, when they started off their Poll Dorset stud," Mr Trewick said.

"Dad had a finger in the pie of them starting off the Poll Dorset breed."

The Trewicks started the stud with a flock of Poll Dorsets, and introduced White Suffolks in 2004.

Mrs Trewick said the couple would continue to run a commercial flock of sheep for the foreseeable future after the final sale in October.

"It is sad to see the disbanding of our stud because we have been doing this for a long time," she said.

"When you get to our age, we would like to spend a bit of time travelling and with our family, and closing the stud will allow us to do those things."

The online-only sale attracted buyers from central NSW, Tasmania, Keith, South Australia, and localities in Victoria including Benalla and Colac.

"We had widespread interest in the sale and that's because of the quality of the breeding," Mr Trewick said.

The sale featured 123 Poll Dorsets and 89 White Suffolk ewes.

The top-priced ewe of the sale, Lot 177, was a Poll Dorset bought by Lachie and Sophie Kelly and Lachie's brother, Bowes, Ivadene stud, Hexham, for $1350.

Lot 177, Pepperton 240062, was sired by MV220360 and out of 220088.

Pepperton 240062 had Australian Sheep Breeding Values in the top 5pc of the breed for post-weaning eye muscle depth at +4.17 as well as lamb eating quality and terminal production indexes at 159.02 and 160.06, respectively.

It also ranked in the top 20pc for intramuscular fat and weaning weight.

"Our sheep are based in Hexham, but our Ivadene sale is based at Benalla, so we saw an opportunity to add to what we're doing in that part of Victoria," Mr Kelly said.

"Pepperton is another stud that is at the leading edge of performance-recorded data and we think these ewes can be a valuable investment for our clients into the future.

"We bought 10 ewe lambs at this sale and that was followed up after buying two top ewes, including the top-priced ewe, in the stage one sale last year."

Among the volume buyers was Craig Wilson, Kentish Downs Poll Dorset stud, Wagga Wagga, NSW, who bought 28 Poll Dorset ewes to a top price of $600.

"It's a pretty rare occasion that you can purchase those top-end genetics," he said.

"The ewes we bought averaged in the top 1pc of the industry for terminal carcase production, and that's the standard index really for the prime lamb industry.

"These ewes will go straight into our breeding program and match in well with what we have."

Prime lamb producers Will and Georgia Johanson, Euroa, bought 25 Poll Dorset ewes to a top price of $550.

The Johansons run a commercial composite flock and join 2500 sheep.

The ewes were purchased by Rodwells livestock agent Dale Buitenhuis, Benalla, for the Johansons.

Elders Stud Stock specialist Michael Glasser, Albury, NSW, said Pepperton's influence would leave a lasting legacy in Australia's stud stock sector.

"Pepperton has been a long-standing stud with both White Suffolks and Poll Dorsets and has concentrated heavily on performance data and maintaining a focus on structure, type and fertility," he said.