Young sheep stud owner shares his plans

Pat said the reason he called his stud Wellspring, was because it means a source of continual and abundant supply.

"My long term goal is to be able to continually produce large numbers of rams for my clients," he said.

Pat's family run a Hereford stud, Kroy Park Poll Herefords so sheep was not the obvious choice for this young stud master.

He said he picked Dorpers because they are a "low maintenance sheep with the ability to rear multiple quality lambs per year".

When asked what his favourite thing about Dorpers was, Pat said "their French cutlets".

Pat's mother, Mimi, said he had always had an interest in animals and enjoyed helping his dad, John, with the cattle on their property.

"We started out with a couple of sheep that sparked Pat's interest that prompted him to research Dorpers and purchase a sire," she said.

"He loves going to the stud sales at Bellevue, they seem to inspire him. He is just starting to build up his stud numbers and hopes to start showing soon."

Pat currently has a flock of 180 Dorpers, which are mainly pasture raised, except for in times of drought.

Despite being young and with school work to complete, Pat is very involved with all of the responsibilities associated with running the stud including monitoring lambing, lamb marking, weighing lambs, condition scoring ewes and buying new rams and ewes.

In year seven at Dalby Sate High School, Pat would like to join the school's sheep show team.

And, aside from continuing to grow his stud, Pat said he would like to enter some prime lamb carcasses in the Ekka competitions.

Looking further into the future, Pat has ambitions to follow a path to a potential career in agriculture.

"I would like to undertake some study in the area of agriculture and gain further experience working for leaders in the sheep industry," he said.