The Salway Journey
Salway Maternal Composites started in 2015 when we purchased a line of Cashmore Oaklea Stud ewes. This bloodline is at the forefront of the maternal composite industry for high indexing, self-replacing sheep. We collected data for these ewes for two years and held our inaugural sale in 2017.
Fast forward to 2024 we will be offering 120 rams at our sixth sale, live on AuctionsPlus.
Our Commitment to you
TO PUT IT SIMPLY, WE DON'T KEEP WHAT WE WOULDN'T USE OURSELVES.
We pride ourselves in being able to take our clients through our entire sheep breeding process. From our commercial enterprise through to our stud, we are committed to showing our clients the whole picture. Discussing things such as structure, animal health and environmental factors, to management decisions to improve profitability and important attributes that drive our business, are all things we are happy to discuss with our valued clients.
WE DO THE HARD WORK FOR YOU.
Rigorous selection processes, detailed data and testing under commercial conditions gives you the confidence that the animal you select will be the right one. Our goal is that your purchase will continue to pay dividends for years to come.
History
Salway was purchased in 1976 by Fred and Barb Mulligan. The property was a wild, undeveloped, covered in blackberries, with no infrastructure or fences. They extensively developed and improved Salway over the years to make it the highly productive property it is today.
When we took over Salway in 2008, it was primarily a beef breeding operation with a handful of sheep. In 2013, we assessed the business model and decided to opt for a balanced approach between sheep and cattle. When the droughts in 2013 – 14 and 2019 – 20 forced us to decrease our cattle breeding operation, we decided to ramp up our sheep enterprise. Since, we have forgone breeding cattle and turned to a cattle trading operation.
In 2022, we purchased a new property ‘Dalveen’, making a total of 6,600 acres across the two properties.
Looking forward
Operating with 60% sheep and 40% cattle gives us flexibility. Having cattle in the mix allows us to concentrate on pasture quality and utilisation, and in times of drought we have the option to stop trading cattle and concentrate our sheep enterprise.
Today Anna and I, along with our daughters Olivia, Sophie and Isobel, continue the Salway legacy. We are committed to growing the business and watching it evolve over time, with the health and quality of our stock our top priority.