About
At Ashmore, we began breeding shedding sheep in 2022. The foundation breeds used in our flock were UltraWhites crossed with our elite White Suffolk ewes selected for bareness as well as the high performance growth, muscling and eating quality genetics Ashmore White Suffolks are known for. We have now introduced Shedding Composite genetics from high performance breeders in Victoria with exceptional data quality & recording. We are genuinely excited about the combination of genetics we have put together. Very strict standards have been maintained on physical structure as we want our shedding genetics to perform without break-down in a wide range of environments including high rainfall.
Key Objectives for Ashmore Shedders:
- High early growth and muscle with adequate fat: see the ASBV genetic trends alongside, Ashmore has the highest post weaning growth and muscle in the composite shedding breed and well above the average for the Shedding Composite breeds.
- Fertility: we have a strong focus on improving fertility, hence introducing the composite Shedding genetics. We want our clients to be able to join once per year and get good results rather than having to rely on multiple joinings to get enough lambs and / or replacement ewes. We aim to rapidly improve fertility so our clients can confidently keep the daughters of our rams knowing they will have plenty of lambs.
- No crutching or shearing: as we use bare rams over our ewe flock, this will rapidly improve. No Ashmore shedding rams have been crutched or shorn since 2024. A portion of our flock is already totally bare and each generation this will improve. We are scoring shedding on each drop of animals which will eventually enable us to present Shedding ASBVs.
- Structure: excellent foot and leg structure, no foot trimming = less breakdowns
- Temperament: when tagging lambs at birth we are maternal scoring the mothers temperament and removing any ewes that don't rear, dont come back to their lamb etc. Any sheep that 'crawl' under fences are automatically culled
- Eating Quality: the foundation White Suffolk ewes included some exceptional IMF and Shear Force genetics which sets us up well when the new combined analysis is published.
