Kurra-Wirra buys Mountain Dam stud

In September, Tom and Alison Silcock, from Telangatuk East, announced they would be selling the entire flock as a way to ease into retirement.

But Mr Silcock said he had hoped it would be purchased as an entity so its genetics would continue to have an influence on the Merino industry.

So this arrangement was “the best possible outcome we could have hoped for”.

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The Silcock and Close families have been friends for many years, having swapped sires in the past, and been involved in events like sire evaluation trials together.

Anthony Close, Kurra-Wirra, said the opportunity to buy the stud fit in line with the family’s current business goals.

“We saw it as a good way to lift our imprint on the Merino industry,” Mr Close said.

“We’re looking to breed really good, successful sheep, not just for us, but for everyone.”

He said while Kurra-Wirra was traditionally a horned stud, in recent times they had transitioned to be 50/50 horned and polled.

They now only use polled rams.

“Polled is the future of the industry,” he said.

He said Mountain Dam’s polled flock would “fast track our polled genetics, and allow us to make the change into polls a little bit quicker”.

With a busy few days ahead, their own ram sale on Friday, and a family wedding on the weekend, they would look to transport the 900 sheep from Mountain Dam to their property in the next couple of weeks.

Kurra-Wirra planned to keep the Mountain Dam name, and keep Mr Silcock on as a stud advisor.

“Tom is very well respected, and he’s still got the passion for it, so we want him to remain heavily involved in the breeding of the sheep,” Mr Close said.

“He’s put a lifetime of breeding into this, so we hope he trusts us and that his clients will trust us too.”

Mr Silcock said he looked forward to his involvement in Kurra-Wirra’s operation.

“I would imagine they will be utilising my views, combined with theirs, to try and get the best possible outcome for their genetics going forward,” he said.

“They’ve got a good combination of experience and youth, that will hopefully give Kurra-Wirra a big lift.”

He and wife Alison would continue to run a commercial flock, using genetics from Kurra-Wirra.