Y-Not beat dad in Corriedale ring

Zoe Lush, 8, and brothers Isaac, 10 and Nathan, 11, have just started their own Y-Not Corriedales sheep stud.

This makes them the fourth generation of their family to have a Corriedale stud.

Their great grandfather started Corriedale Hills stud in 1926, now operated by Brenton and Jo Lush at their Inman Valley property on Fleurieu Peninsula.

Mr Lush said the opportunity for his three children to start their own stud came up with the dispersal of the Wye Corriedales stud, operated by Tony and Jan Hunt, Mount Gambier.

Y-Not Corriedales bought five ewes from Wye genetics in March, including last year's Royal Adelaide Show champion ewe.

They have also bought another four Wye ewes at the final dispersal sale recently - one show ewe and a pen of three.

Zoe, Isaac and Nathan had been saving money towards these purchases, selling sheep manure for fertiliser at $4 a bag. "

Mr and Mrs Lush, who are also the stud's consultants, are looking into artificial insemination to build up flock numbers.

Mr Lush said they would probably look at using Wye rams for the first few years at least, to keep that strong influence going.

The purchase of the stud is also serving another purpose for him.

"From my perspective it is something I've always wanted to try," he said. "We will be able to compare different bloodlines and see how they perform in comparison to our sheep."

Mr Lush said the sheep would be run together, but the bloodlines of the two would stay separate.

"Hunts have bred a longer-bodied sheep than ours, but they were on Limestone country, south of Mount Gambier," he said.

"It's going to be an exercise to see if that changes in different countries."

The Wye emphasis has been on fertility, heavy carcases and fleeces of 27 micron to 30M.

There are now three Corriedale studs run on the hills at Inman Valley, with the children's cousin, and Mr Lush's nephew, Royce Pitchford, also starting his own stud, Lushford Corriedales.

"His bloodlines are based on the top Lambplan records," Mr Lush said. "He currently has the top Lambplan Corriedale ram in Australia."

* Full report in Stock Journal, October 23, 2014 issue.