Official Legal Publication serving Lincoln County and the Towns of Arriba, Genoa, Hugo, Karval and Limon
Shearing is over for another year and went fairly smoothly. Our three shearers, Brennie, Patrick and Kevin all did a marvellous job with over 2000 sheep shorn in 5 and a half days. These days were long but all the fleeces are now pressed and ready to be sold.
We supply the shearers morning smoko, which consists of sandwiches, fruit cake and laminations, a hot lunch and then afternoon smoko, which is the same as morning smoko.
So being in the shed rouse-abouting ( the person who sorts the wool) and cooking takes up 12 hours of work a day. Then we still have to do all our other chores after shearing is finished for the day, so we are really happy to have it completed by December. In December we shear the lambs that will be born this June/July.
Our wool is approximately 30 micron so I interviewed South West Victorian young ranchers Aaron and Rebecca Rowbottom from Myndarra, who produce some of the worlds best ultrafine wool. This amazing young couple have been heavily involved in the Rowbottom family’s Rowensville Ultra fine Merino stud for almost 20 years now.
The Rowensville stud has been strictly non-mulsed for over 40 years, leading the way in bare breach Merino breeding while focusing on a superior fibre with ultra fine quality. The stud's average wool diameter is around 14 micron with weaner bales measuring between 13.0 and 13.3 micron.
Rowensville and Myndarra have won the Zegna Vellus Aureum (finest Merino fleece) competition on multiple occasions, with a world record fleece measuring 9.4 micron. The Zegna company is a luxury Italian clothing brand committed to sustainability and fibre traceability, so naturally they have invested in Rowensville's high quality Merino wool.
Along with luxury Zegna clothing, the Rowensville wool has also been blended with other superfine Australian wool to make a suit for Prince William, a high honour for all involved.
Aaron states while ranching in Australia always has its challenges, continuing a legacy that is recognized on a world stage, along with the ability to work with and around family is a highlight of the industry that is hard to mimic in any other job. Aaron’s Ultra fine Merino industry is approximately 1.5 miles North of our main property. I would really like to thank Aaron for his amazing insight into the fine wool world and telling us about his world record breaking efforts.
That's all for this article. Next fortnight I will be talking about 2 joeys (baby Kangaroos) that I am hand rearing after finding them in their mommas pouches after being hit by cars and dying.
I can be contacted as usual by emailing tigerlilliangus@gmail.com Until then, take care and thank you so much for reading.
