Trewick family of Pepperton close the chapter on 83 years of stud breeding

Pictures supplied by Kim Woods/Outcross Media

Some of Australia's highest-indexing rams have gone under the hammer at a dispersal sale in northern Victoria, closing an eight-decade chapter on stud sheep for the Trewick family at Pepperton stud.

The Elmore-based family sold 40 Poll Dorset rams, 21 White Suffolk rams and more than 100 ewes across two sales as stud principals Roger and Dianne Trewick announced they would disband the stud after 83 years.

"We are planning to take a step back, relax and enjoy life without having to worry about another ram sale," Mr Trewick, 74, said.

The property Pepperton was settled by Mr Trewick's grandfather James Atkinson in 1864, and was named after a group of peppercorn trees that stand proud on the farm to this day.

"James was a blacksmith when the railways went through from Bendigo to Echuca," Mr Trewick said.

"They started the railway at both ends and completed it at Elmore, which was halfway, and then he came out and selected the 397 acres that still is Pepperton today."

Mr Trewick's father Tom Trewick established the Pepperton Dorset Horn stud in 1942, which he operated until Roger and Dianne took over the management in 1993, switching to Poll Dorsets that same year.

The White Suffolk breed was added to the Pepperton stud in 2004.

The ewe and ram sales, held on October 10 and 15, grossed $97,880 and $129,500, respectively, with sheep knocked down to clients in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

Rams backed by some of the country's best genetics

It is not often stud breeders exit the industry at the top of their game, however, this was the case for the Trewicks.

One of their top-priced Poll Dorset rams, for example, was ranked in the top 1 per cent of the breed in Australia for weaning weight (WWT), post-weaning weight (PWWT), post-weaning eye muscle depth (PEMD), lean meat yield (LMY), lamb eating quality (LEQ) and the terminal carcase production (TCP) index.

"It's a bittersweet thing," Mr Trewick said.

"It's an accomplishment to get where we have got.

"On Lambplan this year, we had five Poll Dorset rams in the top 20 in Australia - that included rams number one, two and four - and that is no easy task."

While the stud will close, the Trewicks have no plans to sell the 450-hectare property, with Mr and Mrs Trewick planning to switch to a commercial flock with the help of their son Kurtis and daughter-in-law Tara.

The October 15 ram sale included a total clearance of 40 Poll Dorset rams, which sold to a top price of $13,000, and 21 of 40 White Suffolk rams to a top price of $4000.

The sale averaged $2123, with nine of the rams sold knocked down to clients operating via an online platform.

The top-priced $13,000 ram, Lot 1, Pepperton 240239, was sold as a charity ram with proceeds donated to Bowel Cancer Australia, in memory of the late studstock auctioneer Michael Glasser, who lost his life to the disease this year at the age of 59.

The ram was knocked down to Lachie Kelly, Ivadene and LSK studs, Hexham, in partnership with Matt Tonissen, Chrome Sheep studs, Hamilton

"He was a very high-indexing ram and ranked about eighth in the whole of the terminal database in Australia for the 2024-drop," Mr Tonissen said.

"Given it was Pepperton's last sale, I thought there might have been an opportunity to buy a ram that they might not otherwise sell in a normal year."

The ram will be joined to some of the studs' best-performing Poll Dorset ewes.

"Lachie will use the ram in mid-January and then I will use him in mid-February," Mr Tonissen said.

"I believe that he is one of the few rams that I have seen that phenotypically matches up to his data.

"This ram really displayed the attributes of his estimated breeding values, especially with length and thickness."

A ewe sale, held five days earlier, featured 107 ewes, plus two rams, which sold for $16,000 and $9000.

The sale, including 44 White Suffolk ewes, 63 Poll Dorset ewes and two Poll Dorset rams, recorded an average of $906.

It was the Trewick's highest-priced ram they had sold in their 32 years of stud sales.

Studs secure top genetics at Pepperton dispersal

Six other Poll Dorset rams sold at the October 15 on-property sale were sold as stud rams, making in excess of $4000.

Kentish Downs, Wagga Wagga, NSW, bought one stud ram, Lot 3, Pepperton 240214, for $4000 and one commercial ram, plus 12 ewes on the Friday prior to the ram auction.

Lot 2 was in the top 1pc of the breed for WWT, PWWT, LMY, LEQ and TCP, and top 5pc for PEMD.

Paul Catterall, Wattle Ridge stud, Lower Turners Marsh, Tas, bought one Poll Dorset stud ram for $4500, Lot 5, Pepperton 240354, and three ewes on the Friday before.

Lot 5 was in the top 1pc for PEMD, LMY, LEQ and TCP.

Steve and Linda Fawnes, Saber Poll Dorset stud, Deniliquin, NSW, bought one stud ram for $4000, Lot 7, Pepperton 240345, which was in the top 1pc for LEQ and TCP, and top 5pc for WWT, PWWT and PEMD.

In other sales, Detpa Grove stud, Jeparit, bought one ram for $4000, Lachlan Patterson, Kinellar White Suffolk & Poll Dorset stud, Eugowra, NSW, bought one ram for $4000, and Corey Sutherland, Deloraine Downs Poll Dorsets, Konongwootong, bought one ram for $6500.

The volume buyers included the Moyle family, Randall Park, Hamilton, who bought seven Poll Dorset rams to a top price of $2500, while long-term client Carl Holshier, Bunaloo, NSW, bought 11 White Suffolk rams to a top price of $2500.

In the online-only ewe sale, two rams were sold, including the highest-priced ram the stud had sold in its history, Lot 1, Pepperton 240317, for $16,000 to Meat Elite Australia.

The ram was in the top 1pc of the breed for PEMD, LMY, LEQ and TCP, and top 20pc for WWT and PWWT.

Meat Elite Australia chair Dale Price, Majardah Poll Dorset and White Suffolk stud, Glencoe, SA, said the group was made up of 14 Poll Dorset studs across Victoria, NSW and South Australia.

"The ram was the highest-ranked Poll Dorset on Lambplan for 2024," Mr Price said.

"He offered excellent meat-eating quality and muscle, and his Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) were very good, and we believe he will be able to enable us the traits in which he excels.

"While we all have very good traditional ASBVs and we've been focused on meat-eating qualities, we believe this ram will give us a boost."

Mr Price said the ram would be used through an artificial insemination program, effectively becoming a link sire.

The second-top-priced ram sold during the ewe sale, Lot 2, was knocked down to Ewan Price, Mount Gambier, SA, for $9000.