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IT'S been more than a decade since the Australian White breed was developed, and demand is increasing for the genetics, with producers impressed by their high fertility, growth rates and ability to do well in all conditions.
Robert and Leanne Endacott started with the infusion of Australian White rams over their commercial self-replacing White Dorper flock and noticed an immediate improvement in production, with lambs being continually turned off at four to five months in their steep, rugged country on the Burrendong Dam foreshores, Mudgee, NSW.
They had plenty of previous experience in both sheep and goat production, which included growing superfine wool, breeding, and exporting Boer goats to China and operating their White Dorper stud and were excited about being part of a new, dynamic Australian sheep breed.
In 2011 the Endacotts established their Red Hill Australian White stud, beginning with the purchase of recipient ewes implanted with Australian White embryos from Tattykeel, Oberon, NSW.
An extensive embryo program over the next four years increased flock numbers, and they now run 600 stud ewes and 1100 commercial ewes, selling about 80 rams in an annual on-property sale and 150 rams throughout the year.
The Endacotts pride themselves on producing a no-fuss, no-nonsense meat sheep that will meet the expectations of large commercial producers, stud breeders or people with smaller lifestyle blocks, thanks to minimal inputs.
Return clients are also providing great feedback on flock fertility and lambing percentages after using Red Hill bloodlines, and the Endacotts had first-hand experience of their productivity during three years of drought. With 1000 commercial Australian White ewes, 200 of them maidens being joined at six months, the flock consistently produced 134 to 138 per cent lambing with no supplementary feeding.
"This was certainly a testament to the breed, being an excellent resilient, non-selective sheep that can browse and convert feed well, while maintaining good body weight and producing lambs that are healthy and robust," Mr Endacott said
From a recent scanning of 122 Red Hill maiden stud ewes, joined at six months of age, 19 were empty, 56 singles and 47 had twins, equating to 124pc scanned in lamb.
"Over the past decade clients have come to us and bought a handful of ewes and a ram, both stud and commercial and those same clients have been so impressed they keep coming back for more and so have their neighbours that have been looking over the fence and then finally decide to give the breed a go.
"The feedback is tremendous, and our clients love the soft, easy doing sheep with excellent carcase shape, correct conformation, good temperament, hair pattern and tremendous eating quality."
Red Hill stud has clients in NSW, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland, and in recent months they've had strong interest from traditional Merino breeders wanting to transition to the Australian White breed.
"Many have already purchased Red Hill commercial ewes and flock rams in the hope of building up numbers to either completely change from Merinos to Australian Whites or transition from one to the other over the next few years," Mr Endacott said.
When buying rams, however, producers need to make sure they are buying a genuine Australian White ram, Mr Endacott said.
The Endacotts are planning to implement the AWSBA blue tag, which aims to provide clients with quality assurance that all rams with the blue tag are purebred Australian White flock rams.
"This is foremost to reassure clients they are buying true to type, high quality animals, producing high profits to client's enterprises with low inputs," Mr Endacott said.
"We stand by our motto 'When Quality Matters' and strive to uphold quality and consistency in our stock."
Among the stud sires that have been particularly impressive is Tattykeel Ruger, which was purchased for $18,000 in 2019, in partnership with the Pederick family, Sans-Souci stud, Tamworth.
A Ruger son sold for $36,000 at Tattykeel's 2020 sale, and Red Hill has a number of Ruger sons available in their September 10 sale.
"This progeny is what we have been striving to achieve in the past 10 years and we look forward to going ahead with these genetics to consistently produce stud and flock rams and stud ewes that clients are looking for," Mrs Endacott said.
Their seventh annual on-property sale includes 10 stud rams and 70 flock rams, as well as 60 stud ewes scanned in lamb to some of the stud's best sires. Details will be available on the stud's Facebook page and AuctionsPlus, and the Endacotts welcome enquiries about the breed and sale animals.
"We look forward to providing existing clients and those that may be new to the breed across the continent, quality, high preforming stock that will produce real turnover and profit."