news2008

PENDARRA NEWSLETTER

We regularly produce a newsletter for our commercial ram clients which is now available online. Activate one of the links below to view the newsletter.

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Welcome to the news page for

PENDARRA WHITE SUFFOLK STUD and PERFORMANCE plus GENETICS.

We will frequently use this page as a notice board to let you know what is happening within our stud and allow new visitors to our site to see some of the highlights over the past few years.

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Highlights 2008

Great Commercial Results

Several recent events have given us plenty to be excited about with regard to our breding program and the manner in which our genetics are achieving results for our clients in the commercial prime lamb industry.

Our White Dorper composite breeding program is continuing to provide some pleasing results with several of our clients gaining lucrative price contracts in niche markets for their lambs and high praise from the processors handling these lambs. The growth and do-abilty of these lambs has seen them handle the tough times with ease with the lambs pictured below sold to Australian Organic Meats @ 5 months of age, averaging close to 25 kg carcase weight with just the right fat score. This client achieves close to 180% lambing from his composite maternal flock developed using our Composite White Dorper sires.

Our White Suffolk clients have been reporting some exceptional results for their lambs with some very impressive sale averages and market prices, especially given the season that many have had to endure over the past 12 months. At a time when the unpredictable weather provides some challenges, it is pleasing to witness clients obtaining market high prices and high returns for their lambs.

The enthusiasm of our young grandson, Corey Minchin, led him to enter some of his lambs in the local lamb competitions. He was succesful in winning 2 Champion lamb titles, (ahead of some very strong competition), Champion pen of lambs, and a good selection of ribbons. He has now convinced us we should begin showing our sheep again at some Royal Shows so he has definitely 'got the bug'. Be on the lookout for a pint sized young studmaster with loads of enthusiasm.

Sheep CRC

Pendarra 075630 has been selected as a sire for the next round of Sheep CRC trials. This young sire is very quickly becoming well used after also being included in the series 13 SuperWhite allocation and semen sales to many studs. The interest being created by this sire will ensure he recieves plenty of exposure over the coming year. Despite a number of sale interests, we have made a decision to take this sire, along with 075492, off the market and retain them both at Pendarra.

Illoura 070143, "Next G" has also been selected in the next Sheep CRC sire allocations for the same reasons we purchased him at Adelaide Royal, being an outcross to most of the genetics within the White Suffolk genepool. This sire has continued to develop since Adelaide and is becoming more impressive with regard to his muscling, frame and the manner in which he carries himself.

Introducing "Next G"

This new addition to our sire team is all about balance, high red meat yield and the Next Generation in our breeding program. Purchased at the Elite sale at Adelaide Royal, Illoura 070143 is a total outcross for our breeding program and has all the attributes that we consider will become important in the lamb industry over the next few years. Apart from having an exceptional balance of growth, fat and muscle on both performance figures and raw data, he has exceptional high red meat yield traits. Great muscling through the loin and hindquarter, carcass depth and no waste all on a very correct and easy doing sheep with a very good downs type wool on a soft skin.

It is only fitting that the next generation in our stud operation had a significant input into the purchase of our new sire. Peter and Corey Minchin, (pictured L-R) who run Pendarratoo in conjunction with the Pendarra stud, will be the first to see lambs from this sire and are excited about the next level in our commercially focused breeding program. The combination of Pendarra 043050, 053808 and 075630 genetics on the maternal side of our stud with "Next G" as the sire will ensure some very interesting lambs come April.

Young sires perform well

Once again the use of ram lambs in our 2008 drop lambing has resulted in the strengthening of their performance values with almost all increasing their Carcase + index when benchmarked against our older, accurate sires. Pendarra 075492 has some outstanding lambs on the ground and is now well over 200 Carcase + with a very high muscle index and has justified our decision to retain this young sire despite a number of sale offers. Pendarra 075630 has been selected in the 2008/9 series Super White team and with semen sales to many studs, will become a very accurate, well used high performance sire within the next 12 months. Pendarra 075676 has also consolidated his performance values and promises to be an exciting sire in the future of our our breeding program with unequalled feed efficiency and carcase muscling.

Several of our older sires have also consolidated their breeding values. It seems the more we use them, the better they get

Sheep CRC Selections

Pendarra 075370 Pendarra 064529

Two of our Pendarra sires have been selected for inclusion in the Sheep CRC Trial for the 2008 lambing. Pendarra 075370 and Pendarra 064529 (UK cross). The Sheep CRC is a seven year trial, 2007-14, involving Australia's leading sheep industry organisations which will provide new innovative technologies, practices and products for the Australian sheep industry. As a trial, it is not a competitive comparison of genetics, rather an effort to find important linkages and gene markers that will be used to increase the profitability and sustainability of the sheep industry. Fifty(50) doses of semen from each sire will be inseminated producing progeny in various locations across Australia which will then be put through a wide range of evaluations and testing under commercial conditions.

In addition to the 2 sires used in the Sheep CRC trial, semen from 63 of the sires we had in semen storage has been sent for SNP verification, so that a complete DNA library can be developed for our sheep industry locating and identifying the genes that have been responsible for the huge gains in the industry over the last few decades.

At last it is printed

For a number of years I have been putting together a book outlining the steps involved in setting up a successful sheep stud. This book is a result of our own experiences and also being frequently questioned where to find material on just how to go about setting up a sheep stud. Having worked with a few schools and young breeders setting up their sheep studs, it was clear that, with a lack of information available that was all contained within the one publication, there was a need for such a book. After a few years of stop-start writing, it is finally published. Titled "Breeding Stud Sheep", this book a comprehensive guide to the development of a sheep stud, from the initial idea to establish a stud, stepping you through the purchase of your first sheep, advertising and promotion, breeding techniques finishing with the endless posibilities that stud sheep breeding can provide. Published by Landlinks press, it is available by accessing the following link; More information and purchase

Development of a new website

Apart from breeding sheep, we have been busy putting together a new website for the benefit of all involved in the Australian Sheep Industry. SheepOnline has been developed in co-operation with BizBoost and provides an opportunity for everyone who has anything to do with the sheep industry the means to promote and advertise their specific event, conference, service or product. The feedback we have received from all sectors of the sheep industry is very encouraging and the traffic through our site, which was launched on the 1st July, has been exceptional. This site is specific to sheep and the industries that support all involved in the sheep industry.

To visit the SheepOnline site use the following link. SheepOnline

Unique set of Performance figures

Pendarra 075630

For some time now we have been impressed with the young 2007 drop lamb, Pendarra 075630. He was well used as a ram lamb for our 2008 lamb drop and has already had semen shipped to 3 states for use AI programs. The industry has long been searching for a sire with high muscle, high growth both at weaning and post weaning, low birth weight and moderate fat covering, here he is- Pendarra 075630, according to the Lambplan ASBV indexes. Both visually and on figures, 075630 is an impressive sire and his lambs on the ground look good.

Pendarra 075676 Pendarra 075492

Other 2007 drop rams that are producing some outstanding lambs in our 2008 drop lambs are Pendarra 075492 and 075676. Pendarra 5492 is a ram that has perhaps surprised us with the style of lambs he is producing and looking at his pedigree, is producing lambs more close in type to the dam side, with the added advantage of 3050 as his sire. Pendarra 5676 has always been a favourite of ours and the quality of his lambs is no surprise. A son of Pendarra 053808, 5676 will replace 3808 for next years joining, if not sold beforehand.