Trefusis breeding modern-day Merinos

The 42nd Trefusis superfine/fine wool on-property Merino and Poll Merino ram sale will be held on Friday, November 27 at 1.30pm, offering 54 rams, 33 polls.

Stud principal Georgina Wallace said modern-day Poll Merino rams tick all the boxes for wool and carcass attributes as well as non-mulesing making them a truly dual-purpose animal.

“Trefusis has just recently purchased another stud poll sire, 25.0968 by RP 17.1133, for $16,000 from Roseville Park with Trefusis retaining ownership,” she said.

“This new poll ram will be a great addition to the stud with a micron of 15.5, a GFW of 138 per cent and ranked 201.5 in the RP index. 

“He has beautiful soft, white crimping wool and a very good WEC of -41.7 which is very important these days for reducing worm issues.”

Trefusis will also be offering 21 horn progeny from their top stud sires, one being 170436 who was Superfine Champion at Bendigo in 2019 and has performed well at sire evaluation trials on the mainland and for several clients. 

Georgina said his progeny always have very bright, stylish, fine micron wool that is suitable the European spinners market.

Rams on offer will be 15 months of age, paddock reared and represent the top of the drop. 

Full sets of figures will be provided including ASBVs for wool and carcass traits. All Rams are non-mulesed and have been checked by veterinarian Bruce Jackson for soundness. The 2025 drop averaged 16.4 microns.

Also, on offer will be four 15-month-old stud sires, which were selected for potential stud use and showing. However, Georgina has decided to offer them for sale. These rams were regulation shorn mid-August so have will have four months wool growth and represent the top five per cent of the drop.

“Our aim at Trefusis is to breed productive, profitable dual-purpose Merinos that have good conformation, size and fertility and covered in bright, soft, well crimped wool that do well in Tasmanian conditions and beyond,” Georgina said.

Trefusis currently runs 400 mixed age stud ewes that average 17.5 microns with an average fleece weight of 7kg and lambing percentage of 110 per cent.

This year will also see a changing of the guard with Andrew Calvert stepping back to an advisory role at Trefusis and Peter Wallis from renowned Glenlea Park Poll Merino Stud, SA taking on the Classing role. Georgina said that “both Andrew and Peter have amazing sheep knowledge and have both excelled respectively with their own studs. Their input here at Trefusis has and will be profound”.

Rams can be viewed on sale day from 9am or by appointment

The catalogue will also be available on the Trefusis website by early-November and also available on the Sheep Genetics site.