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Location:

Farrell Flat and Keith, South Australia

History:

The Kellock family have been graziers in the mid north area from the 1870’s. David and Bev are both fourth generation land owners in their respective families, with the management of the mid north property now with the fifth generation. People: The Kelvale Poll Merino Stud was founded in 1966 by David Kellock, who remains involved today with his two sons, Greg and Stephen along with their families. The ‘Kelvale’ property at Farrell Flat in the Mid North (just south of Burra) is where David and Bev reside and have now taken on a Consultancy Role to the Business as they move towards “retirement”.

Greg and Jane live at the neighbouring property Stoneleigh where Greg is the Production Manager for these properties, including a leased block of 1700 acres. A commercial flock of 2,000 self replacing merinos are run and approximately 2,500 acres are cropped every year. Jane is the Financial Controller for the whole of the business and she also is a member of the local council and current Chairperson of the Sheep Advisory Board to the Minister of Agriculture in South Australia whilst working off farm as a farm consultant.

Stephen and Peta have lived at Emu Flat, Keith since 2005, where Stephen is the Stud Manager as well as the Production Manager of this property. The breeding programme of the 800 stud ewes is conducted here and an additional flock of 1200 ewes is also run. This property is being set up for cell grazing through the establishment of improved pastures of lucerne, chickory and sub clovers. Lucerne is irrigated for hay and seed for export. Peta works off farm in a part time role and completes bookwork for Emu Flat as well as supporting the promotional activities of the stud. All ram lambs are weaned from the Emu Flat property to be raised and presented from the Mid North properties.

Sustainable Production:

Maintaining and breeding for a plain-bodied sheep has allowed for the practice of mulesing to be gradually phased out of the stud since 2005 starting with the rams. Since 2008, no lambs have been mulesed in the stud or commercial flocks. We have also increased our lambing percentage to be consistently over a 100% average with a high of 133%. We have also started to mate the 7 month old lambs to speed up our generational progression.

Rotational grazing or cell grazing practices have been implemented over the past 10 year at all the properties. Large mobs are moved at regular intervals onto fresh paddocks allowing for regeneration of pastures with plenty of rest periods. We have found that the stock have maintained better overall health as fresh feed is always available and the benefits to the pasture and countryside has been substantial.

Benefits of SRS®

The main breeding objective of the Stud is to improve the density, length and quality of the wool grown by a plain-bodied sheep. Breeding a highly productive animal with high growth rates and good muscle patterning giving us faster growing animals which excel in current markets. Kelvale are currently shearing every 6 months and obtaining testing lengths in excess of 60mm. In the current wool market, no discount is being incurred at this length however the aim is to genetically breed the length to above 70mm. Our wool cut average for the stud ewes is 4.2 kgs per 6months with our goal to increase this to 5.0 kg.

Deep crimping and bold, white wools are grown with an average flock micron of 20.5 but with a goal to lower this to 19 within the next few years. A valuable tool that is being employed at Kelvale to help achieve this is the sampling of skin, to test the density and length of wool follicles. Kelvale is actively involved in the collection and use of data for the Merino Select program operated by Sheep Genetics Australia. We have found the breeding values invaluable for evaluating and improving carcase traits.

We are currently selling over 200 rams per year and have the ability to breed more to supply all enquiries. Our consistency in value and especially quality is what we pride our business on and our involvement with SRS® helps us achieve this.

Contacts:

Name: Stephen Kellock

Address: PO Box 304, Keith SA 5267

Website: www.kelvalepollmerinos.com.au 

Ph: 08 8755 1761

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