Investment in school stud pays the way for Mat Hill
MAT Hill was in Year 10 at Horsham College when he convinced his parents — fourth generation Merino farmers — to help him buy the school’s Hampshire sheep stud.
MAT Hill was in Year 10 at Horsham College when he convinced his parents — fourth generation Merino farmers — to help him buy the school’s Hampshire sheep stud.
Mat said there were just 15 sheep, but given he’d looked after them since Year 7, even winning champion ram at the Royal Melbourne Show, Murray and Helen eventually relented.
“It was tough convincing dad. My cousins and neighbours couldn’t believe dad had let in a black-faced sheep,” the 26-year-old-recalled.
“But now dad has quite a changed stance and assists the stud as much as possible.”
Mat even admits he’s even surprised himself at the success of his heritage breed stud, now at 200.
“I’m thrilled really. At the start I thought it would be more a hobby, but now I’m exporting semen and have a waiting list for buyers wanting lambs. I can’t keep up with the demand.”
Mat said in the past three years the demand for Hampshires around Australia and even the world has skyrocketed, based largely on the eating and breeding values.
Intramuscular fat registers in the top five per cent for all breeds, while ShearForce is generally -2 to -5, compared to a Dorset or a Suffolk, which can be up to +5.
“Just based on those two figures a lot more people have become interested in them.”
On the Hill’s 1820ha farm at St Helens Plains, in the Wimmera, Mat has continued to demonstrate the breed’s once unacknowledged talents.
From those initial 15 Horsham College stud flock — which he renamed Aurora Park, Mat last year added more from the entire Burrandool Stud, run since 1977 by Frances Murray, one of the founding members of Lambplan.
Mat has continued keeping Lambplan data for the flock that is joined on January 1 with artificial insemination or embryo transfer a fortnight later using New Zealand genetics.
Lambs at birth are tagged and weighed, then weighed a total of six times in their first year, and muscle-scanned at eight months of age.
In addition, he blood tests for two traits. Working with Lincoln University in New Zealand, he tests for cold tolerance, which determines which rams are more suited to producing lambs in cold weather.
He also tests for the scrapie genotype.
“I don’t need to do that because it’s not a disease in Australia, but I do it because if I genotype the full flock to be resistant when and if it comes they will be fine and it also helps me trade in the US, it’s a selling point.”
FERTILITY SURGE
MAT has also been following a strict culling program, breeding from ewe lambs in their first year and if — in their second year — they don’t have twins, they are removed from the flock.
“Because of that fertility has jumped massively. Five years ago it was at 145 per cent and now it’s 170 per cent,” he said, adding Hampshires made good mothers.
Since 2016 he has been selling about 200 semen straws annually around Australia and for the first time last year he sold semen to Canada, and this year to Peru.
“I made my own web site for the stud and have been advertising there and whenever I win at the show I post it and my figures. Then I got an email from a Canadian farmer asking for my stud genetics. He ended up visiting eight flocks in Australia and bought mine.”
Annually he sells about 40 rams privately, up to $1500 each, at about 14 months of age, “but recently I’ve had so much demand I’ve been selling straight away at about seven months”.
“I’ve got a waiting list. When people ring I just tell them I have to get back to them.
“If they lamb in May-June and people miss out in September with the older rams, they then come to pick up the ram lambs in February.”
Ewes are sold at about age six.
SHOWING PROMISE
MAT said sales were helped from show wins. Each year he attends five sheep shows, including at Bendigo, Sheepvention in Hamilton and the Sydney Royal and last year he won ram of the year across all shows, as well as champion Australian ram at Bendigo.
The flock are grazed on pastures of balancia clover sown into phalaris, and run alongside the Hill’s flock of 2500 Merinos. The Merinos — farmed on the property since 1907 — shear an 18-20 micron and have a staple length of 120mm.
The flock also grazes rotationally on grains and stubble grown on the property, with 1410ha of crops including wheat, barley, canola, beans, chickpeas, lupin and vetch hay.
Mat said even though his family has strong Merino roots, he fell in love with Hampshires after being introduced to the Horsham College stud in year 7, helping to manage and show the flock.
“They are quieter than Merinos and with a more docile, curious temperament.
“They would run around with their black faces and lambs with their knee-high black ugg boots and they were a bit different. But that was before I understood their true commercial value.”
His immersion in the Hampshires is now thorough. Since 2016 Mat has been secretary of the Hampshire Association of Australia.
“For decades Hampshires never really took off, it was always about Shropshire, Southdown and Poll Dorset. The first stud in Australia was registered in 1916 but up until 1950 there was just one breeder.”
Now there are 34 breeders and 1500 breeding ewes, a considerable jump on the national flock of 1000 four years ago.
He said while he had no plans to value-add sheep meat, Mat predicted that “if based on their good eating quality, I can see the breed is only going to get stronger”.
“Up until this year I still thought of myself as starting out. But now that people are chasing me for genetics and want to start their foundation flock from me, at age 26, I feel like I am an old Hampshire breeder.”
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