History of fleece weighing paying off for Roseville

And decades of meticulous fleece weighing and performance recording is paying off, with Roseville Corriedales producing an outstanding dual purpose sheep.

For the Roseville stud principal, based at Kingsvale, NSW, producing sheep with 50 years of strong genetics through careful selection is a great achievement.

Mr Manchester came to breed Corriedales quite naturally - his father was a Corriedale breeder, and Mr Manchester left school at a young age to pursue his goal of following in his father's footsteps.

His passion for the breed - what he calls the original and best dual purpose sheep - has strengthened over half a century.

For Mr Manchester, a sheep that can offer a quality fleece, rear lambs and grow excellent meat is the entire package.

Mr Manchester also has extensive experience in the feedlot industry, so he understands the importance of carcase quality.

In addition, Roseville Corriedale is producing exceptionally marbled lamb.

When Roseville began weighing their fleeces 48 years ago, they were cutting around 3.7 kilograms a head.

Today they are cutting up to 6.7kg a head with an average over 10 years of 6.3kg with an average micron of 25.

Mr Manchester said while micron was very important, it was crucial that the wool was soft handling for water and dust resistance.

Fly resistance is also very important.

Mr Manchester said he received excellent feedback several years ago when he spoke to a buyer from The Schneider Group about why they continually bought his wool.

His response was that Roseville Corriedale wool was quite rare and was a perfect blending wool.

"What is different about our wool is that it is soft handling with low standard deviation at four and co-efficient variation at 16," he said.

Roseville is currently joining 1500 Corriedale ewes, as well as growing crops.

But the Manchester family hasn't stopped there.

They also run a Poll Dorset stud - Kingsvale Supremes.

Kingsvale Supremes came about in the 1990s when Mr Manchester was having trouble finding suitable sires to produce lambs.

So in the end he decided to breed them himself.

He began by inseminating some Corriedale ewes with Poll Dorset semen, but since 1997 he has been buying pure Poll Dorset rams.

Today Kingvale Supremes runs 150 Poll Dorset ewes and offers up to 80 to 90 stud rams a year.

In the past couple of years, the stud's sale Poll Dorsets have averaged EBVs for birth of .23, in the top 20pc for growth, 50 in the top 5pc for muscle and fat, and high in maternal and lambs weaned EBVs.

Mr Manchester is starting to focus on eating quality.

"Our lambs went through the Gundagai Meat Processors (GMP) earlier this year," he said.

"Our pure Corriedale lambs yielded approximately 54pc, and 27pc of the mob marbled. They were 0.50 or higher, which for me meant an extra $11 per head."

"Our Kingsvale Supreme cross Corriedale wether lambs yielded approximately 55pc, and 20pc of the mob marbled 0.50 or higher, which again is $11 extra per head.

"We think this is a great starting point for increased profit for ourselves and our clients.

"We have been waiting for 20 years for a method to measure carcase performance. The Dexa machine, which measures meat yield and marbling, is great for the lamb industry.

"Producers who breed the best carcased lambs will be rewarded by receiving more dollars per head."

Mr Manchester said he would continue to measure for increased profit.

"In the next six years we will lift cutting yields and marbling in our rams. We want to make sure our rams are making more profit for us and our clients," he said.

The Manchester family will hold its 26th Roseville Corriedale and Kingsvale Supremes sale on September 23, with viewing from 11am.

The stud will be offering around 80 to 90 Poll Dorset rams and 40 Corriedale rams.