Our Philosophy
At the SheepMaster Parent Stud, we run our sheep as our clients do. Every stud ewe must be in lamb by 8 months of age and then every 8 months for the rest of her life. Ewes are joined with a 5 week mating with early lambing ewes being identified.
Lambs are weaned at 8-12 weeks of age and are then run commercially. At weaning, all lambs are transitioned through a feedlot for 2 weeks allowing a backgrounding process using low stress stock handling principles, promoting correct rumen development for lifetime productivity and education to hot wires. This weaning transition process plays a key role in building on the breed’s already calm temperament, thereby minimising many of the containment and temperament issues seen in other so called shedding breeds.
Ewes are classed for the first time at 13 months of age, and then annually with key selection criteria being; fertility and mothering (lambed and lost are regarded the same as not being in lamb), front legs, back legs, size, conformation and skin quality.
Added to the visual classing, all sheep are gnomically tested and a stringent objective classing appraisal is applied to all ewes and rams. In this way, we believe we are presenting rams for sale that give the greatest possible return to our clients commercial sheep operation while making the highest rate of genetic improvement.
Our only focus is on client performance, whether it be a self-replacing maternal flock or through the use of terminal sires, our results speak for themselves with clients weaning the equivalent of a ewes body weight in 12 months. Rams are classed and are ready for sale from 8 months of age. All rams are guaranteed for the first mating.
The SheepMaster Parent Stud uses a visual scoring system, along with genomic data and ASBVs, ensuring the highest quality control within all ram breeding ewes, without discouraging new ideas and the need for regional variation. This is a very different approach to many other shedding sheep breeds. We strive to constantly improve the quality of our sheep and believe that this is best achieved through co-operation and exchange of ideas with our clients. Breeding animals must be a constantly evolving process which meets market demand with maximum productivity.
The key points that cannot be compromised in breeding animals in or out of a stud breeding program are fertility, skeletal structure/conformation, constitution, feet and productivity.
TEMPERAMENT, RESILIENCE & SELF-RELIANCE ARE KEY TO EASE OF MANAGEMENT
SheepMasters have a great desire to live, thrive and maintain close, family orientated groups. This results in a stay at home animal with minimal stress on fencing and highly protective mothers. SheepMaster animals are highly intuitive, responsive to quiet, gentle handling, soft voice tone and no dogs in stock yards. Here at SheepMaster Parent Stud we select for these positive management traits.
MATERNAL TRAITS
An over-muscled, fat sheep loses productivity. We are breeding shedding maternals, not terminals. With a self replacing ewe flock in place, some clients are choosing to use a terminal sire to produce quality, processable lambs from surplus SheepMaster ewes. SheepMaster weather lambs are being processed through the crossbred grid, with premiums being achieved for ewe lambs from re-stockers.
The key commercial profit driver is kgs of lambs weaned/hectare, so we focus on maternal traits and growth. The ewe needs to be highly fertile, able to easily get in lamb, lamb down by 13 months of age then repeat every 8 months and rear her lambs to early weaning weight.
For this we look for a long bodied, feminine ewe with excellent feet, leg and body structure that can potentially wean her own body weight in a 12 month period. A ewe must be feminine, have long ears, a long muzzle and width between the ears. These 3 indicators directly relate to length of the body, width of the shoulders, width of the rump and fertility. These are the key principles that make up a perfect breeding ewe.
Ram selection entails all of the above classing traits, early maturity, masculinity, correct conformation, bone, testicular circumference, skin quality (soft, silky skin), and temperament being key.
