Plevna Merinos - Three generations strong
Plevna
Plevna Merino Stud’s base was derived from Wonga sheep first bought to the property in 1942. The stud was registered in 1979.
The 70’s, 80’s & 90’s saw the use of objective measurement combined with visual classing to establish a modern day industry type of sheep. Frank Donnelly and John Aveyard were the driving force in the evolution of Plevna Merino Stud.
Recently added the Poll Merino gene, growth rate and eye muscle area testing.
The end result has been a real increase in wool cut, a drop in micron – 22 back to 20.5
Growth rate and eye muscle increase of 15% - important for the typical dual purpose flock
From 2007 and onwards there has been an emphasis on sourcing genetics from studs that have ceased mulesing.
Today and the Future
From 2006 onwards the Merino stud has been under the management of Boyd and Alex Aveyard after family succession planning, with John Aveyard Senior still providing valuable input. Boyd and Alex live on Plevna with their three children, Nicholas, Lucy and Isabel.
Paul Kelly joined us as our sheep classer in 2014, Paul comes from a background with vast experience in management in the Stud & Commercial Merino industry. Paul will conduct all Plevna Visual classing which we feel is essential to be done by an independent professional.
All sheep are visually classed before objective measurement is taken into consideration.
With change of management we have moved to a time controlled grazing system. This has placed a greater emphasis on having an easy care type of sheep as all of our sheep are run under the same conditions except for joining and lambing. This has also led to greater levels of biodiversity in our pastures and grasses and as a result has lowered our inputs and increased our returns. There is no set stocking on Plevna and Waverley.
Our enterprises have changed from 2006 when 30% of our income was derived from prime lambs, today we are a straight Merino operation. It is our goal to breed Merino ewes to outproduce the firstcross ewe. We will do this with wool values surplus sheep sales (higher lambing percentages) and a much lower feed conversion ratio.
In 2011 we were given the opportunity to expand our business with the purchase of "Waverley" (a grazing property owned and managed by Jack Grange approx 13km east of Plevna). This has allowed us to increase our grazing operation and our ewe base, which consists of 500 stud ewes and 1100 flock ewes.
2011/2012 has been an exciting period for us as with the acquisition of Waverley we have been in a position to purchase ewes which we think compliment ours and our clients breeding direction. 230 One Oak Poll/Wellgully Ewes were purchased from Geoff and Brenda Gill, "Brooklyn", Albert. We have also purchased 220 Wallaloo Park blood ewes from Craig French, Dubbo. These are both classed flocks of high quality.
Plevna Merino Stud’s base was derived from Wonga sheep first bought to the property in 1942. The stud was registered in 1979.
The 70’s, 80’s & 90’s saw the use of objective measurement combined with visual classing to establish a modern day industry type of sheep. Frank Donnelly and John Aveyard were the driving force in the evolution of Plevna Merino Stud.
Recently added the Poll Merino gene, growth rate and eye muscle area testing.
The end result has been a real increase in wool cut, a drop in micron – 22 back to 20.5
Growth rate and eye muscle increase of 15% - important for the typical dual purpose flock
From 2007 and onwards there has been an emphasis on sourcing genetics from studs that have ceased mulesing.
Today and the Future
From 2006 onwards the Merino stud has been under the management of Boyd and Alex Aveyard after family succession planning, with John Aveyard Senior still providing valuable input. Boyd and Alex live on Plevna with their three children, Nicholas, Lucy and Isabel.
Paul Kelly joined us as our sheep classer in 2014, Paul comes from a background with vast experience in management in the Stud & Commercial Merino industry. Paul will conduct all Plevna Visual classing which we feel is essential to be done by an independent professional.
All sheep are visually classed before objective measurement is taken into consideration.
With change of management we have moved to a time controlled grazing system. This has placed a greater emphasis on having an easy care type of sheep as all of our sheep are run under the same conditions except for joining and lambing. This has also led to greater levels of biodiversity in our pastures and grasses and as a result has lowered our inputs and increased our returns. There is no set stocking on Plevna and Waverley.
Our enterprises have changed from 2006 when 30% of our income was derived from prime lambs, today we are a straight Merino operation. It is our goal to breed Merino ewes to outproduce the firstcross ewe. We will do this with wool values surplus sheep sales (higher lambing percentages) and a much lower feed conversion ratio.
In 2011 we were given the opportunity to expand our business with the purchase of "Waverley" (a grazing property owned and managed by Jack Grange approx 13km east of Plevna). This has allowed us to increase our grazing operation and our ewe base, which consists of 500 stud ewes and 1100 flock ewes.
2011/2012 has been an exciting period for us as with the acquisition of Waverley we have been in a position to purchase ewes which we think compliment ours and our clients breeding direction. 230 One Oak Poll/Wellgully Ewes were purchased from Geoff and Brenda Gill, "Brooklyn", Albert. We have also purchased 220 Wallaloo Park blood ewes from Craig French, Dubbo. These are both classed flocks of high quality.