Testimonials
We are long term Trigger Vale Clients. Andrew and Mandi are a pleasure to deal with, and their obvious passion for their stock, and attention to detail, is second to none. We greatly appreciate the versatility offered by the one stop option of both their Maternal Merino and White Suffolks. It is fantastic to be able to go to their sale and pick up a ute full of quality rams, confident that we have everything we need to breed our own self- replacing dual- purpose Merino ewes, and put their rams over our surplus ewes in a terminal program. The excellent health status of the Trigger Vale program is highly attractive, as their Brucellosis and Johnes accreditation offers great peace of mind.
The ewe flock is the profit driver for any sheep breeding program. Year after year, Trigger Vale rams have shown continuous gains in the genetic traits that we are after like growth, fat and muscle, ensuring that each successive generation of our ewes will be more profitable than the last. The proof of the pudding is always in the eating, and we were wrapped to average $213.50 for our first cross Merino White Suffolk sucker lambs last spring. Our sucker lambs are regularly at the top end of the market in Wagga, and due to the carcass dual purpose attributes of their mums, there is no discount from buyers compared to the more traditional 2nd X suckers.
The remaining 1st X lambs and Poll wether lambs are grown out to export weights and sold Jan- March. This year the 1st X averaged $300.25 and the Poll Merino’s averaged $274.00. When you add the $27 wool from the lamb shearing, they are a very profitable unit. We regularly top the Wagga market for Merino lambs, and it’s not unusual to get a $40- $60 premium over non- Trigger Vale blood Merino lambs at the same sale.
An added bonus this year was that due to the big plain frame nature of our ewes, we averaged $214 for our CFA surplus ewes.
Russel & Nicole Smith, Milbrulong NSW