Australian Stud Sheep Breeders Association treasurer sells up and steps down to focus on PGA responsibilities

Long-time Australian Stud Sheep Breeders Association member Chris Patmore is stepping down after a decade as treasurer to ramp up his responsibilities with the Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA.

The Eneabba sheep producer also this year stepped down from his role as treasurer at the Australian Poll Dorset Association.

Mr Patmore said the decision to step back from the ASSBA came amidst a sudden offer on their Eneabba farm last year.

Deciding to take the unsolicited offer, Mr Patmore and his wife Robyn made the move to the Swan Valley to semi-retire with his wife.

With the sale came the reduction in flock — from 4000 to 1500 mated ewes across roughly 850 hectares on four farms in Eneabba, Morowa, and Perenjori.

“Our kids have no plans to come back to the home farm, so we decided to sell and now we’re living in Swan Valley on four hectares,” Mr Patmore said.

“We’ve still got considerable farming interests, but we sold the home farm where the sheep studs were located.”

Mr Patmore has been a member of PGA for 25 years, the livestock committee chair for 10 years, and has held the voluntary position as treasurer for six months — a role he said has taken up “considerable time”.

“We’ve done fairly well out of agriculture and the sheep industry in particular, and we’re in a position now where we can afford to put a bit of time back into it — and help the younger generations,” he said.

“I’m going to miss the sheep studs because that was an integral part of what we were doing, and that is a very intense form of running sheep, and it did take quite a bit of time and dedication — I enjoyed the challenge of breeding good sheep.

“But I don’t miss the constant work.”

In his semi-retirement Mr Patmore has taken on the voluntary roles as chair for the National Wild Dog committee, and remains chair of the Central Wheatbelt Biosecurity Association.