One hundred years on from when Fred Kember Snr bought his first draft of stud Border Leicester’s, and established the Gleneith stud at Ganmain, his family continue to lead the breed through the modern era.
With the sixth generation already showing an interest in the stud sheep, the future of the Gleneith stud is in good hands.
Wes Kember is the fourth generation, and with his father Will, son Nathan and grandson Jackson, the connection between the Kember family and the Border Leicester breed seems assured.
“My grandfather Fred senior started the stud for his own use and a few local sales, but when my father [Fred jnr] took over in 1949, he pushed the stud along its way,” Will Kember said.
Tradition is high on the Kember families agenda, but embracing technology has pushed their sheep forward and they were amongst the early adopters of Lambplan with fat and muscle scanning when it first became available with Alan Luff who was doing the original scanning in the late 1980s
“When I took over the management, we drifted away from concentrating on the showing and became more involved in the performance recording especially for production traits,” Wes Kember said.
“The reason we pursued that course was because we felt there was more value for our clients in the increased production of the progeny from our rams.”
That was during the mid-nineties, when there were many stud breeders questioning the traditional genetic programs and Wes Kember thought breeding his Border Leicester’s and focusing on measurable traits was the way to the future.
Article from The Land
Stephen Burns
August 29 2022
0428 276 295
“Gleneith Park”, Ganmain, NSW 2702