Our story

Where it all began

I first saw these remarkable sheep on the BBC landline programme whilst sitting with my daughter who was recovering from brain cancer.  We were both completely overawed by their cuteness, friendliness and hardiness.  

I started enquiries to bring these sheep to Australia and quickly discovered how difficult this would be with our strict biosecurity regulations. No live sheep can come into Australia which protects our sheep from some of the terrible diseases in other parts of the world. 

I had to buy live sheep in the U.K. from original Swiss Valais lines. Over the process of 18 months I purchased three pedigree rams and five pedigree ewes. These then went into the genetic centre in U.K. to make embryos and produce semen straws.

After a journey of three and half years the precious genetics arrived here in Australia. I already had some pedigree Dohne Merino sheep that I had been breeding from and these are perfect mums so then became the exciting IVF programme to put the embryos in.  

The excitement of seeing the first lambs left me tingling with excitement and jumping up and down with joy.

A small family run farm in Yarrambat

My husband, Mark and I have a picturesque small farm in outer North Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. We bought this farm several years ago in a fairly run down state so have enjoyed the opportunity to bring it to the standard it is today. We had ‘fun’ renovating the old farm house and building a new outdoor entertaining area, complete with swimming pool and in-ground trampoline, for our ever-growing number of grandchildren.

The land was full of weeds and very poor soil so we spent a lot of time and research to find out how best to manage this problem with the least amount of chemicals possible. It took about three years to see the real benefit of this.

There are now five paddocks beautifully fenced to keep our sheep safe, with automatic water feeders in each. We have planted approximately 30 trees that help with shade and are now beginning to look lovely.  We already had a large shed so we improved it by concreting the floor and putting a new roof on.  In addition we have put up a separate feed shed, chicken shed and large dog kennel and run. 

Meet Farmer Jane

I was born in Devon in the U.K. My family are farmers in this pretty South West corner of England. From a fairly early age I loved being with the sheep and always wanted Dad to wake me to check on the ewes who were lambing in the middle of the night. My pocket money was earned by raising all the rejected lambs, or the lambs not doing well with mum. It was always a quick trip to the bottom oven of the Aga stove to warm up whilst I prepared the bottles.

I came to Australia as a ten pound pom with my girlfriend when I was 19 and lived on a farm in Christmas Hills, which is an outer suburb of Melbourne. Again, I had the pleasure of working with sheep with Uncle Bruce at weekends whilst working full time in Melbourne. I have had a busy and varied  career running several small businesses and raising four wonderful children. The decision to semi-retire was precipitated by my daughter’s cancer diagnosis.

I now have a small flock of Dohne Merinos who are doing beautifully as surrogate mums to my precious Valais embryos. The large shed is now my lambing shed and has cameras to watch carefully as the mums give birth. Mums and babes stay inside for the first week and then in by night for the next few weeks. 

Hilde and Bella are my two guardian Alpacas. We also have three chickens who never fail to provide us with eggs. I have two beautiful rescue dogs, Polo the Dalmation and Doug the giant Great Dane. I have also rescued Katie the cat who stays in the feed shed and does the best job of mouse hunting.

To get up in the morning and have the joy of all these amazing animals in my life makes me so grateful for my life.