THE Ranken family at Boonerah, Hexham, has acquired Wairere, the largest Romney stud in Australia.

Boonerah director, Lachie Ranken, said “the purchase of the Wairere stud is a once in a lifetime opportunity, especially with no other current options to get New Zealand genetics into Australia.”

“The Romneys are reliable, easy-care sheep,” he said.

“They are the toughest maternal sheep available in Australia.”

Wairere Australia was previously owned by New Zealand ram breeder Derek Daniels and the Australian stud stock were located at Heywood after being flown into Australia in 2014.

Wairere is New Zealand’s largest ram breeder and markets rams throughout the UK and South America.

Boonerah has bred stud, performance recorded, maternal rams for almost two decades selling rams throughout Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales.

The Wairere flock will be run beside the Boonerah Maternal program and in the meantime, it’s action station on the farm with muscle scanning, genomic testing and pregnancy scanning happening.