Our Sheep Management Practices
High Fertility
Who doesn’t love twins and triplets!
We’ve bred our merino ewes with Bundilla Rams, which introduced the Booroola gene into our flock. This gene leads to multiple egg releases and is associated with a strong mothering instinct. This means more healthy lambs are raised to maturity every season!
Early Maturation
More lambs, at an earlier age!
We’re seeking to improve the maturation efficiency of our ewes by joining at 7 months in order to lamb at 12 months. We use electronic sheep tags to track weight gain and performance in our ewes. This allows us to optimise our grazing regime, determine the weight at which cycling begins and track which ewes consistently raise multiple lambs.
Reduced Drench Dependence
For the good of everyone
Our goal is to reduce the dependence of our flock on treatments which humans have introduced into the merino over years of selective breeding focussed on wool production. Through careful management we are able to reduce our environmental impact, whist producing a healthier, hardier and more robust sheep.
Natural Worm & Fly Resistance
Through selective breeding
Through regular worm testing and classing, we identify individual ewes that are unable to handle a small worm burden or are disproportionately susceptible to flies. These ewes are joined to terminals in order to exclude their progeny from the breeding flock.
Non-Mulesing
Breeding a ‘plain bodied’ sheep
The Merino was originally bred for a ‘high wrinkle’ to increase the number of follicles, producing a greater quantity of finer wool. Non-mulesing farmers are now looking to reduce that same wrinkle by selective breeding as it makes a ewe harder to shear and far more likely to get flystrike.
Low Birth Weight/
High Growth Rate
For easier lambing
Historically, selective breeding has focussed entirely on the final weight of the sheep. Our ability to track growth rate over the lifetime of an animal allows us to select fast growing lambs that aren’t born so heavy that they put an undue burden on the ewe.
