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At CHROME SHEEP STUDS we are breeding Self-replacing Maternal Meat Sheep and ICON Poll Dorsets.  It is our aim to be at the forefront of the Sheepmeat seedstock industry

in Australia. 

To achieve and maintain this high quality level of production, it is necessary to get many things right.

  1. We obtained what we considered to be the best ewes available in Australia when we commenced breeding.
  2. We place a great deal of emphasis on animal health and management, hardiness and doing ability.
  3. We have a clear vision of what our animals should look like and how they should perform.
  4. We use the most advanced selection tools available e.g. Artificial Insemination, Embryo Transfer, DNA analysis
  5. We balance visual traits together with measured performance data using Lambplan, a widely used genetic evaluation system.
  6. We listen to what our clients want.
  7. We are constantly on the lookout for genetics that might be superior to our own.

We run a large stud ewe flock with a strong commercial focus. The key economic driver of a prime lamb production operation is weight of lambs weaned as a percentage of the body weight of the mother.  The logical extension of that means we do not want excessively large females because quiet simply, they eat too much for what they produce.  For this reason, we are focused on moderate frame score ewes at CHROME.

All stud sheep are fully pedigreed and are recorded on the genetic evaluation system Lambplan and genetic traits expressed as ASBV's (Australian Sheep Breeding Values) These values give an indication of a particular animal's estimated genetic merit for various traits.  e.g.. growth, eye muscle and fertility

All our Maternal Sheep (i.e.; Coopworth, Maternal Composite, Perendale) are all run together as one flock of sheep so that we can make direct comparisons between them all, both on a visual basis and on recorded Lambplan performance data. Lambplan data is all run under the Coopworth Dollar Index which is breed code 15.

Embryo Transfer has played a major role in both the ICON Poll Dorset Stud and the Maternals ensuring that we multiply High Quality genetics at a faster rate to keep up with the increased demand for our sheep. 

Benefits of a Self-Replacing Breed

  • Highly Fertile
  • Ease of Lambing
  • High milk production
  • Excellent mothering ability with up to 180% lambs weaned in commercial flocks
  • High growth rates
  • Easy finishing, early maturing lambs producing carcasses in the 19-25kg range
  • Hardy - suitable for a wide range of climatic conditions
  • High Tolerance to worms
  • Eliminate buying expensive replacement ewes
  • Reduced risk of introducing disease
  • Having control of your flock
  • Ability to select for the heritable traits mentioned above

CHROME SHEEP STUDS have been selecting for high performance in their ewes with outstanding progress and support from many satisfied clients spread over 4 states of Australia.

We openly invite you to come and inspect our genetics by giving us a call to arrange a time.