Simon Bahr views participation in the South West Slopes Stud Merino Field Day to be held in the Harden Showgrounds as a wonderful chance for ‘self-promotion’.
“The exposure we have got from attending is the number one reason to attend,” the principal of the Meadow View merino stud near Henty said.
“We don’t attend shows and we need to get our sheep out in front of people rather than rely on people to come to us.”
Mr Bahr said the venue at the Harden Showgrounds is conveniently placed for his eastern Riverna-based stud and also is the centre of a large Merino breeding area, where producers focus on breeding the type of wool bred in the Meadow View stud.
“The majority of the sheep breeders attending the field day are looking for our type of wool, but have never seen our sheep before,” he said.
“We had a fair bit of interest last year which was the first time we attended, and although it hasn’t translated into sales we will continue to display our rams at the field days.”
Mr Bahr will have eight rams on display and they will be a representative example of what the stud is producing and also what will be available for auction during the Eastern Riverina Merino ram sale at Culcairn.
“We are in a relatively high rainfall area, with mixed cropping and sheep enterprises and our rams are bred specifically to perform in this environment,” he said.
“Our long term micron across the flock is 19.2 while our fleece weights from grown sheep shorn is seven to eight kilograms.”
The Meadow View stud was started over 60 years ago as a Merino stud by Simon’s grandfather and based originally on Pooginook-blood.
Roseville Park rams were introduced in the late 1990s and the decision was made in 2010 to register a Poll stud and concentrate on breeding only Poll Merino sheep with the introduction of a ram from the Coromandel Poll Merino stud in WA.
Mr Bahr said the ram has been a successful introduction to his stud, as also has been the use of Willandra Desmond, one of outstanding sires of the current era.
“We aim to breed productive and profitable Merinos that are large framed and carry a heavy, white, well-nourished fleece of around 19 micron,” Mr Bahr said.
“We also focus on a quick maturing and highly fertile sheep, to increase overall flock return.”
Mr Bahr said he will be offering 40 Poll merino rams, March-shorn and May 2016 drop at the forthcoming Eastern Riverina Merino ram sale in Culcairn.
During the annual sale held last year, the top priced ram in the Meadow View draft sold for $3000 to Mark Dye, “Glenora”, Corowa, who was looking for ‘bale fillers’.