Jock Nivison is the first to admit he oversees a pretty diverse operation – the Yalgoo Partnership – on the southeastern edge of the Northern Tablelands at Walcha.
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The operations is divided into five enterprises: a seed stock Poll Hereford stud, a seedstock merino stud, commercial fine wool, an interstate partnership of seedstock merino and a commercial beef operation.
The family settled in Walcha in the 1830s and Jock represents the third generation providing improved seedstock.
Commercial fine wool is the largest of the enterprises.
Mr Nivision said the Yalgoo Merino was a constantly evolving package of genes, bred to add more value into the next generation.
Backed by more than 45 years of objective measurement, he said that genetic progression was measureable, profound and assured.
About a decade ago, the Yalgoo partnership pushed into providing genetic breeding technology in Tasmania.
The partnership with Ashby Merino started in 2006, with Ashby looking to devisfy their genetics and sourcing Yalgoo genetics for four years. Then, after success with its move, Ashby began selling 100 per cent Yalgoo genetics at a local level in Tasmania.
In 2009 Yalgoo sent 150 of their highest performing flock ewes to Ashby.
The following year another 100 maiden ewes joined them. These 250 ewes formed the ram breeding nucleus that is today Ashby Merinos.
The original ewe nucleus was all artificially inseminated with high performing Yalgoo rams.
The rams gave Ashby a consistent and structurally correct base to breed from.
Three proven Yalgoo sires have been sent to Tasmania to act as back up for the AI program.
Until now the flock has been self replacing.
“However as the Ashby commercial flock evolves, there is a likelihood that the highest-performing ewes will be trialled and incorporated into the ram breeding nucleus,” said Mr Nivison.
“This will give Ashby a larger population of genetics to breed from and will mirror the breeding program at Yalgoo.”
Mr Nivision said the Yalgoo Partnership has Poll Hereford stud bulls working all over the country.
“The Tablelands are probably the strongest for our beef seedstock, but we have sold bulls into the Central West, Western NSW, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia,” he said.
Commercially disciplined herd management was the focus of the operation, with fully described bulls based on data gathered with acumen and integrity.
“Our primary focus is to breed sound bulls that strike the balance between producing fertile and productive cows and steers that meet market demands,” he said.
He said his commercial beef operation was the smallest of the five-pronged Yalgoo Partnership, running about 200 cows, putting Angus bulls over heifers and Herefords over the mature cows. He said calving ease among the heifers had been a focus of the operation for “quite some years now”.
