Breeding Strategies
Objectives and Aims
Glenwood’s overall objective is to breed SRS® type sheep which are highly productive, profitable and easy care.
Selection of sheep is based on the following criteria:
- Structure, frame, length of body and clean open faces
- Skins must be thin and soft
- Wools must be long, soft, glossy white and free of suint
- Early maturity and positive muscling and fat
- All ewes must be fertile and docile.
Peas in a pod, 2010 sale rams
Our aims are to breed Merinos which:
- Produce 8 kg of 18 micron fibre
- Rear at least one lamb per year
- Do not require mulesing
- Are increasingly resistant to fly and internal parasites
- Always remaining commercially focused.
The detail
Exquisite fibre quality, alignment, crimp and lustre
Glenwood’s focus has been about getting the ewe base correct through selective joining and a vigorous classing programme, which has focused on getting structure, fertility, skins and density & length of wools moving in the direction the stud ultimately wants to be. This in turn has allowed true genetic expression and a snow balling effect through the whole flock.
All stud ewes are single sire mated each year through the classing box by Dr. Jim Watts. The ewes are correctively mated with the rams to get maximum potential from both the sire and the dam.
The care
2nd top priced ram SRS® Classic Ram Sale 2010, purchased by Adam Mort and the the Bridgers of Mudgee
All stud ewes have been mothered up since 2005 by drifting the ewes off as they lamb and tagging and recording information such as whether it was a twin or single and what sort of mother the ewe was. This information will be used by Sheep Genetics Australia to evaluate individual lambs for carcass, fertility and skin traits.
This process is very important to identify superior genetics and also to adjust for birth type (single, twin or triplet). By identifying the most potent dams it is hoped to one day undertake a successful ET program. The ewes mothering ability is highly heritable such that the best mothers stand out year after year.
All ewes are wet and dried at lamb marking to identify and cull ewes which are inherently bad mothers. A calm docile ewe is always going to be a better mother and these types of ewe again and again stand out.
Sheep Genetics Australia
Big day out at Glenwood Merinos
Glenwood has entered information into the Sheep Genetics Australia (SGA) database for the previous 7 years. SGA is the highly successful national genetic information and evaluation service for meat and wool traits. It was developed jointly by AWI and the MLA.
SGA is the world’s largest sheep genetic information source with over one million merinos on record.
Animals are ranked using Australian Sheep Breeding Values or ASBV’s for various traits which take into account environmental and heritability variations and link sires from one region or stud to another.
Glenwood values the input of SGA and understands its importance to a Merino industry which has been driven for too long by the show ring and not evaluating for true genetic gains.
