THE breeding plan at the House family’s Barloo Merino and Poll Merino stud at Gnowangerup focuses around consistency and predictability.
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As a result of this aim the stud has been concentrating on using only a few breeding families within the stud.
Dominator is one of them.
Barloo stud principal Richard House believes that selecting a bloodline and working with it gives type and consistency and predictability.
“Dominator 200 gave us size and crimp originally and this has since been enhanced with some Charinga (Impact) and Wanganella (Mandella) genetics to contribute to nourishment of the wool,” Mr House said.
These breeding policies have led to stud client success.
These include excellent results for average wool cuts of 8.5 kilogram per head for their ewes, yields of 70 per cent and average micron of 20 to go with strong prices when they market their excess ewes.
At last year’s Adelaide Ram Sale the stud added to it genetics base with the purchase of a Greenfields ram in partnership.
This ram has been used in the House family’s Poll stud this year and its recently dropped lambs are looking very exciting.
Mr House said their Poll rams were coming along very well and taking on the Barloo type with each year of breeding.
The recent ram sale at the Rabobank WA Sheep Expo & Sale at Katanning saw the stud achieve good results, including selling the top-priced sire in the sale at $22,500.
The stud offered two rams in the sale and both were purchased by Merino studs.
Mr House said both rams were well covered with white, bright wool and one of them was the heaviest ram in the shed weighing in at 180kg.
Not only was one of these rams recognised as the top-priced ram of the sale it also caught the judge’s eye at the Australian Sheep & Wool Show in Bendigo, Victoria, in July, when it was sashed the champion August shorn strong wool Merino ram and reserve champion strong wool Merino ram.
Judge Tom Davidson, Moorundie Park stud, Gulnare, South Australia, said the sire was a very good ram with a big barrel.
“He has good thickness, a strong bulky wool which he carries well underneath as well as plenty of staple length and brightness in his wool,” Mr Davidson said.
The main objective of the stud’s breeding program is to breed a Merino which will improve the sheep and wool returns of the commercial producer.
To do this the House family has a strong emphasis on improving wool cuts, growth rates and fertility within the flock.
The stud is run as part of a large commercial operation on 8000 hectares in the Gnowangerup and Tambellup shires and along with the stud flock the Houses run a large commercial Merino flock shearing 16,000 sheep annually.
This means the House family are constantly monitoring their objectives and see how their bloodlines perform in a commercial operation sense to ensure they are breeding the right bloodlines for their clients.
They mate 6000 commercial ewes annually, which lamb in July, meaning they are continually benchmarking the stud’s performance and know how their genetics perform.
Mr House said running such a large commercial operation was a great asset to the stud as it allowed them to know exactly how the Barloo rams perform and what clients want for their commercial operation.
In the stud’s on-property ram sale to be held on Wednesday, September 19, it will offer 220 Merino and Poll Merino rams.
Mr House said this year’s sale rams were looking good, with both the Merino and Poll Merino sires showing good carcase and wool traits, plus plenty of consistency and predictability.
The sales starts at 1pm with inspections from 10am.
The House family welcomes your enquiry on the team and look forward to seeing all interested producers at their sale.
Details of the line-up can be found at barloostud.com and Barloo facebook page and we are always available to discuss rams by phoning 0428 271 565.
