To Rick and Jenny Keogh, the ownership of Terrick Merino Stud is not just about breeding Merinos for the contemporary sheep producer. For them it carries something much more valuable - 125 years of breeding, and the hard work and dedication of many men and women passionate about the Terrick legacy.
This year Terrick Merinos, now based at Amaroo, Blackall, will celebrate 125 years. For Rick and Jenny, it's a time to acknowledge the stud's amazing history, and also to look to the future, which in their eyes, is burning very bright.
The birth of a legacy
It was falling wool prices, drought and floods that brought on the birth of Terrick Terrick Merino stud.
The owner of Terrick Terrick station near Blackall, Donald Wallace, was forced to sell his extensive 561,305-hectare aggregation to the Australian Estates and Mortgage Co Ltd in 1896.
But this was the beginning of a new era. The company selected 850 ewes from the 99,155 ewes available as part of the Terrick Terrick flock, and started the Merino stud.
In 1936, the name of the company was changed from the Australian Estates and Mortgage Co. Ltd. to the Australian Estates Co. Ltd.
In the 83 years Australian Estates held the stud, it trained some of the most influential names in the wool industry. One of those was Peter Harvey.
He worked for Terrick Terrick for 32 years from 1949, and he reckons the type of Merino has changed dramatically. "They used to have this great big front, and have more wool on them," he said. "But towards the end of my time, with mulesing and so on, the general trend was for a plainer, bigger sheep. They are easier on the shearer."
Peter got the chance to work with men who became big names in the industry, including Ken Riley and Howard Holmes, who became a renowned sheep classer.
A huge challenge for the industry in Peter's time was wild dogs. "We got so sick of the dogs. They ruined sheep for Queensland, but that is changing with the new cluster fences."
He reckons the future of the Merino industry is promising. "There's still lots of people keen, and it's a great industry. It's good to see."
Another big name on the list of Terrick Terrick employees was Ken Riley. Ken started working for Terrick Terrick in 1947 at 17 years old.
In 1956, during the shearers' strike, he had to walk all of the sheep 37 miles back from the property he ran, Gowan, to Terrick Terrick for shearing. It was then that 3000 poll ewes were selected and sent back to Gowan to begin the poll stud.
"I was responsible for building up the poll stud," he said. "We had to breed enough sires for them. The first time we had a sale, we sold 33 rams. In my last year there, in 1983, 1771 were sold, which made it the biggest poll sale in Australia."
Ken saw many changes in the industry in his time, especially the change in the type of Merino bred. He said developments in modern insecticides to treat blowflies and the introduction of micron testing were game changers.
The stud was taken over by CSR Pastoral Division in 1979, and in 1985 was sold to NM Rural Enterprises Pty Ltd. But then a new era began.
Following the calling
The urge to return to Terrick happened again and again for Rick Keogh.
He and Jenny both grew up with Merinos, though in different states. Rick's interest in wool came with a dose of destiny - his grandfather founded Hagley, one of the first Merino studs in WA.
After leaving school, Rick worked on the family property Byro, near Meekatharra in WA, but then headed east to jackeroo in NSW.
In 1977 he started at Terrick stud as a senior jackeroo, working up to overseer in 1979. After he and Jenny were married, they headed west and leased a property in Western Australia. In 1982 they moved back to Jenny's Queensland family property, Amaroo, later purchasing it.
Rick was committed to the sheep and wool industry, and after Ken Riley retired, he passed much of his classing clients on to Rick. But then Terrick Terrick came calling again. The stud came up for sale, and for Rick and Jenny it was an opportunity.
In September 2001, they bought the stud, including 54 horned rams and 2187 ewes in lamb. They changed the name to Terrick Merinos so it wasn't confused with the original property.
But there was plenty of work to do. They originally bought the stud to supply rams to producers Rick classed for, but that was about to change.
Ivan Oliver, who was the manager of Terrick when it was sold, introduced Rick to indexing. Over the years micron, fleece weight and body weight data had been collected but it was disorganised. Indexing organised that data to allow for a more informed and structured selection of animals.
"We wanted to breed an acclimatised, relevant animal for the rangeland environment without compromising on the three main profit drivers and, in actual fact, improve them," Rick said.
They've had plenty of challenges in their 20 years of owning the stud, including 10 below-average rainfall years and the incursion of wild dogs. Today Rick and Jenny run 1500 registered stud females. Introduced genetics through AI programs over the years have helped improve the genetics and also allowed for benchmarking against the industry.
Coming from commercial sheep producing backgrounds has also helped in understanding the needs of clients in the rangelands. "It is about producing relevant, acclimatised sheep," Jenny said. "We have genetics which suit our country and environment."
And what does the future hold for Terrick?
"History is not lost on us, and I think we've put our own stamp on the stud over the last 20 years. You look back and learn, and look forward and grow. We are passionate about the industry and believe there is a reawakening to the virtues of natural fibres," Rick said.
"I think it's got a long, lucrative future ahead of it," Jenny said.
The Terrick Merino stud sale on August 31 will offer 100 specially selected 2020 drop rams.