A love of merinos was ingrained in Bill Gibson from his earliest days. His father Hector started the Malvern Downs Merino Stud in Tarras in 1924 and as soon as he was old enough, Bill took over the running of the stud and Malvern Downs station.
Prior to taking over the property in 1953, Bill worked as a jackeroo in Australia. There he discovered polled merinos. They appealed to Bill because they are ‘something a bit different’ and don’t fight the same as horned merinos, are easy to get through a drafting race and probably live longer.
He brought some rams back to New Zealand to establish a separate Malvern Downs Poll Merino Stud. In the years that followed Malvern Downs exported rams to South America, China and Hungary.
In 1980 Bill’s son Robbie and his wife Jan took over Malvern Downs. Bill and his wife Frances moved to Wanaka but, depending on the time of the year, Bill still commutes to Malvern Downs a couple of times a week to work on the station. He is responsible for tagging all the stud lambs and maintaining the stud records.
Looking back over the years, he says the market has dictated the type of sheep he has bred, most notably the fineness of the wool.
“In the past, strong wool merinos were popular 24-26 micron and 21 micron was the bread and butter merino in New Zealand. Now you wouldn’t find any strong wool and the bread and butter is 18.5 to 19 micron.”
Bill has an enduring love of the history of merinos, Tarras and the surrounding district. He says it is a fascinating history that would fill many books although, being an extremely modest man, he doesn’t believe he is knowledgeable enough to write them. Instead he speaks about these subjects at field days and to service clubs.
Once on a trip to Scotland he discovered walking sticks made with rams horn handles engraved with a carved Scottish emblem. After various attempts he has perfected the art of making them himself. Not that he needs one. Life on the land has been kind to Bill and he is still trim and healthy.
Achievements:
Awarded an MBE for Services to Agriculture, 1994
Chairman of the New Zealand Merino Stud Breeders’ Society for five years
Served on the New Zealand Merino Stud Breeders’ Committee for 28 years
Represented New Zealand at five world merino conferences
Gave a paper at the first world merino conference in 1982, Australia
Judged merinos five times in Australia
First New Zealander to judge merinos in South Africa
Awarded R.A.S Ravensdown Trophy for services to southern district of the Royal Agricultural Society 2003
Canterbury A&P Association Ambassador of the Year, 2004. Awarded a mug for 50 years continuous showing at the Canterbury A&P Show
Life member of the New Zealand Merino Stud Breeders’ Society
