BREEDING Border Leicester stud rams for 50 years is only part of this Boorowa district family’s agricultural enterprise but the RB Corkhill Stud’s milestone achievement has come through market based goal setting and hard work.
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Minister for Agriculture Katrina Hodgkinson attended the 50th anniversary sale on October 2, to congratulate the Corkhill family on their commitment to improving the quality of the Australian Border Leicester herd.
“The stud was started in 1960 by my dad, Robert Brendan Corkhill, with a purchase of 50 ewes and one ram of Yarra bloodlines,” Robert’s son Michael explained.
“He registered the stud in 1964 and worked hard to improve the breed quality.
“The stud was split up when dad died and I decided I wanted to keep it going as part of the family farming enterprise.”
He has retained the prefix and the Stud name.
Today Michael Corkhill and his family run about 350 Border Leicesters and keep 40-50 selected ewes to run with their stud breeding flock.
The Corkhills farming enterprise consists mostly of pure merino fine wool production, they also run cattle and have about 7000 acres set aside for crop production.
At the recent Border Leicester stud ram sale Michael Corkhill Senior and his family offered 80, 14 month old rams including 15 specially selected rams.
Lot 3, Normanhurst Shepherd 33/13 was the junior champion ram at the Sydney Royal Border Leicester Feature Show and reserve grand champion there, plus junior Champion Ram at the Dubbo National Sheep Show.
It brought the top price of their sale at $4000.
He was also first in class at the huge Bendigo Sheep Show.
The purchaser was Norman Cram from Coobanunga Pastoral Company Goulburn. Mr Cram also purchased another ram for $1700 at the sale.
The 60 lots sold on the day realised an average of $1070 each.
Michael Corkhill Senior said a lot of hard work and diligent management has gone into attaining a successful result like they saw at the beginning of the month.
Similarly pleasing results were also achieved by Michael Corkhill senior’s son, Michael last week when he offered 97 Merino rams at his Grassy Creek Merino Stud Sale.
The top priced ram was knocked down at $6500 and the 87 lots that sold on the day averaged $1824.
Michael Junior said the family helps each other out and had gained their reputation for consistent quality in all they did by following the example set by his grandfather and father.
They all aimed to meet and better the standard sought by their markets through careful management and the use of modern industry standards for measurement during the life of their animals.
At the ram sale on October 2 the minister for Agriculture and Member for Burrinjuck, Katrina Hodgkinson congratulated RB Corkhill & Co on the significant milestone of Normanhurst Stud’s 50 years of Border Leicester breeding.
“I congratulate Michael, Tom and Ashley Corkhill and their families on their great sale, and for being such a successful family farm, particularly given that this year, 2014, is the International Year of the Family Farm,” Katrina said.
“Family farms are the backbone of the multi-billion dollar Australian agriculture industry, and operations such as the Corkhill family’s Normanhurst Stud exemplify what wonderful institutions family farms are and just how important they are to Australia as a whole, and rural and regional Australia in particular”, Katrina said.
Normanhurst Stud has operated continuously since 1964 when Michael Corkhill’s father, Brendan, established the stud. Since then the family has continued operating the stud with the same vision as RB Corkhill supplying quality ewes and rams, which ultimately produce superior quality prime lamb.
Ms Hodgkinson applauded the Corkhills who, like so many other family farm operations, have weathered the vagaries of drought, floods and fires and unreliable commodity prices to emerge strong and successful.
“Australian farmers are amongst the most efficient farmers in the world, and family operations, like the Corkhills’ Normanhurst Stud, have evolved to be leaders in innovation and resilience,” Katrina said.