Fourth-generation Corriedale breeder Charlie Prell was presented a life membership from the Australian Corriedale Association for his decades spent promoting and supporting the breed.
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The award was presented by chairman of the NSW branch of the association, Tony Manchester, Roseville Corriedales, Kingsvale at the Sydney Royal during the Corriedale judging.
Mr Prell was a former chairman of the association himself and his family have a long history with the breed.
His great-grandfather, Charles Prell, imported Corriedales to Australia from New Zealand and registered the family's Corriedale stud, Gundowringa, at Crookwell in 1916. The stud was registered for 99 years and was the oldest stud on mainland Australia.
"We gave up our registration because there's always been cricket fanatics in our family and people always remember if someone gets 99 runs but not many remember people who get 100," Mr Prell said.
"Unfortunately we were caught up in the Ovine Johnes disease debacle 20 years ago, so we haven't sold many rams since then but we still breed our own rams at home."
Mr Prell said it had been a great honour to receive the life membership and it also meant a lot to his father Jeff, also a life member.
"He's in a retirement village in Crookwell and when I told him about the award he burst into tears," Mr Prell said.
When presenting the award, Mr Manchester commented that there would be few occasions where father and son had both been named life members in a sheep breed association.
"Charlie was well-deserving of this award, it just took us a long time to give it to him," Mr Manchester said, noting that he had planned to present it last year but couldn't due to COVID-19.
Mr Prell was president of the association for three years from 1995 to 1997 and he said at that time Corriedales were facing some substantial challenges.
"In the 90s, I had to manage a huge debate about objective measurement (OM) breeding within Corriedales, which are a dual-purpose breed," he said.
"The supporters of OM ended up winning the day and objective measurement for meat and wool is now standard practice in Corriedales and for all sheep breeds.
"Corriedales broke new ground, as a dual purpose breed that embraced objective measurement."
Mr Prell said the biggest reward for his involvement in the breed was watching the judging at Sydney and seeing all the young people involved.
"Tony and I and the Corriedale Association have spent 25 to 30 years developing and promoting Corriedales in schools and now many ex-students have their own studs - ensuring the future of the breed," he said.
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