QUEENSLAND wool grower, Will Roberts, has been named the new president of the World Federation of Merino Breeders after recently taking over from South Australia’s Tom Ashby.
The stud principal of Victoria Downs at Morven took over the position at the World Merino Conference in Uruguay earlier this month and becomes the voice for the 12 member countries, which are Argentina, France, Hungary, Lesotho, New Zealand, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Uruguay and America.
While the position is typically taken up by an Australian, Mr Roberts is the first Queenslander to hold the title.
He will hold the position for four years and hopes to encourage the sharing of information during his term by utilising a ‘buddy system’ between different countries and members.
“It’s not only helping our Australian industry but it’s helping other people around the world as well,” Mr Roberts said.
“All these countries do rely very heavily on Australian genetics to get a lift along. It’s just extraordinary what Australia has been able to do in furthering the development of the Merinos.
“These other countries are certainly showing some real signs of breeding very good Merino sheep and that’s very exciting.
“Most of that has come about purely because they have either visited or worked in Australia or had classers coming over here and selecting good genetics.”
The next World Merino Conference is to be held in Hungary during 2022.