Breeding Philosophy
Gates White Suffolks aims to deliver a high end performance orientated ram for our clients to use within their program. To be profitable through performance orientated breeding our program encompasses the following strategies for our breeding program:
- Easy lambing for ewe and lamb survival = More live lambs. Suitable for Merinos and maiden ewes.
- Fast growth to post weaning. Meaning faster lamb turnoff equating to more feed and more dollars.
- Balanced fat cover for varied production systems targeting specific market requirements.
- High muscle for higher yielding carcasses. Profitable to both producer, processor and retailer.
- High worm resistance. Means fewer drenches and higher production.
- Selection pressure upon eating quality for consumer satisfaction and further market demand.
- Tight skins and clean points for a highly presentable lamb article.
In order to achieve the results our clients demand, we measure every commercially relevant trait. This involves weighing and tagging every lamb at birth, weaning/early post weaning/post weaning weights recorded, fat and muscle scanning and individual faecal egg counts are taken for every sheep. This raw data is entered into Lambplan for analysis and performance data in the form of ASBV’s are calculated. Please read Understanding Lambplan in Tips and Tools for a further breakdown.
Along with ASBV’s we have always and will always continue to place a high emphasis upon the structure and commercially related phenotypical traits of our sheep. With the aid of the latest technologies and breeding tools we can select the best sheep available from Australia wide and use them within our program.
As fellow lamb producer we cannot afford to remain stagnant in our productivity and production system. With competing protein sources’ edging in on the foothold our lamb industry has, we must remain competitive. This competiveness comes in multiple forms:
- Image perception: Less drench, fewer emissions per kilogram of meat produced and an overall clean/green image.
- Product: Tastier, heavier muscled and tenderer product.
- Price: Remain competitively priced with other sources.