Poll Dorset Breeding Aims

  • BALANCED EBV’s
  • STRUCTURAL soundness
  • Rapid early GROWTH
  • FINISHING ABILITY
  • HIGH muscle EBV’s and HINDQUARTER MUSCLING to match 
  • Long THICK BODIES with clean faces
  • Easy lambing
  • TOLERANCE to internal parasites
  • NOT too lean

 

Icon Poll Dorset Rams


We use a very balanced approach to our breeding program.  Lambplan figures are used in conjunction with stringent visual appraisal. At no stage do extreme Lambplan EBV’s override good sound breeding practices and structural conformation. Our sheep are fatter than than the Poll Dorset average on Lambplan data as we feel that as you increase growth and eye muscle, fat levels need to be maintained to keep the sheep in balance.  At Icon we aim to produce fast growing, early maturing rams that at the end of the day put money back into our clients pockets.

It is our ongoing policy to use Artificial Insemination and Embryo Transfer(ET) to advance our genetic progress. ET has really given us some huge gains in recent years and has set the stud up with an outstanding ewe base.  Many of our "Elite" stud animals are bred via ET.

World renowned sheepclasser Sandy MacKirdy and Matt (with over 70 years of combined stud breeding experience) individually scrutinize each stud ewe annually to ensure she measures up to a very high visual standard. Stud lambs are assessed visually at weaning as we feel this is the same stage that a commercial second cross sucker lamb is generally marketed straight off mum.