The stud’s aim has always been to produce top stud & flock rams and prove their performance through our prime lambs. This year’s draft of rams are outstanding with excellent growth measurements.
Kentish Downs is totally committed to the Prime Lamb industry and continues to have a very commercial focus. We are one of the largest and oldest studs in Australia and we also join over 2000 Merinos to Poll Dorset rams annually.
Lambplan performance figures are available on all rams. With visual appraisal and Lambplan measurements we aim to produce bigger, longer, meatier rams that will sire Prime Lambs to meet all market specification.
Kentish Downs believes in producing rams that are paddock reared, so that they will continue to thrive while they are working. We want to make sure our rams hit the ground running when they get to the clients place.
Our rams go through a meticulous process of evaluation. They are structurally assessed and those that do not have acceptable structure are culled. Kentish Downs gives a 100% guarantee on all rams sold, but is not a replacement for good management. It is aimed at appropriately covering the performance of the ram where the ewes are diligently managed to recognised industry standards. The ram owner has a duty to observe joining, and communicate any problems within 3 months of the ram being taken out of the ewes.
Meat buyers and professional lamb finishers recognise the quality of Kentish Downs sired lambs and regularly source their genetics both privately and through the saleyards.
We also feel that visual appraisal of our sheep is of great importance. We continue to have success in the "show-ring" and find this a valuable tool for comparing our sheep with other top studs Australia wide.
Health Management
Brucellosis Accredited Free Certificate No. CW 01/7 (valid till 31/12/2008)
Ovine Johnes Disease MN2 V - Certificate No NS070065 (valid till 15/4/2008)
Kentish Downs have recently updated with no further testing required until 2008. All Poll Dorset sheep are Gudair vaccinated at 6 weeks of age. We are now in our 3rd generation of vaccinates. Kentish Downs has been in the OJD Market Assurance Program since 1996.
All sheep are vaccinated with Glanvac 6 in 1 as treatment for Pulpy Kidney etc annually. Young stud sheep are vaccinated a further 2 times or as directed by our advising veterinarian Dr A. Todd.
Feacal egg counts are monitored in all sheep groups at regular intervals. To avoid drench resistance anti-enthelmics are used only as required.
All sheep, upon weaning, are supported with a selenium bullet.
All sheep are treated with an external insecticide immediately post shearing. Currently we use a product called "Zapp". Shearing of sheep is for the most part October/November; additional shearing times are necessary for show sheep.
Australia is free of Scrapie
Kentish Downs is Accredited Footrot Free
Kentish Downs has an on-farm QA program applying to stock health, management and recording, and provides full
stock health safety through participation in the OJD Market Assurance Program (MN2) and the Brucellosis
Accreditation Scheme. Careful attention is paid to all fencing within our property, to guarantee a solid barrier to disease transmission possible from outside stock.
Performance Recording
At Kentish Downs, we have an extensive breeding and performance recording program, which combines selection of the best quality sheep using both visual and LAMBPLAN data to produce rams of the highest quality.
LAMBPLAN is the national genetic evaluation program, used to assist in stud and commercial breeding.
At Kentish Downs, we have been using LAMBPLAN since its inception and continue to hold our Gold data quality grade status (for high quality data input). This data is used to calculate Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) and selection indexes.
Kentish Downs uses a combination of the Carcass Plus index (60% growth, 20%fat and 20% eye muscle) and Trade $ Index. We try to encourage our commercial producers to focus on the Trade $ index as it is specifically designed for the production of trade weight lambs which require appropriate leanness, but excessive leanness is undesirable due to the difficulties in finishing lambs. For this reason Trade $ Index optimises the post-weaning fat (PFAT) ASBV at –0.5. The further an animal’s PFAT ASBV is from –0.5 the less points are allocated. The higher the animal's growth (PWT ASBV) the more points are allocated. This is used as a guide for both the stud breeder, and lamb producer.
Trade and Export $ Indexes.
The Trade and Export $ indexes are expressed as dollars / ewe joined / year. In estimating the dollar variation the index assumes a weaning rate of 100% and lamb at $3.50kg cwt.
ASBV |
Trade $ |
Export $ |
Carcass weight target |
20kg |
24kg |
Post Weaning Weight |
≥ +6 |
≥ +10 |
Post Weaning Fat Depth |
Optimised at –0.5 |
Optimised at –1.0 |
Post Weaning Eye Muscle Depth |
≥ 0 |
≥ 0 |
LAMBPLAN calculates ASBVs for
- Birth weight
- Growth rate
- Muscling
- Fat
LAMBPLAN provides an overall picture of the animal’s genetic potential.
Click Here for LambPlan Link
Particular attention is paid to the growth rate, to assist in producing an early maturing lamb to meet market requirements.
100% of Stud lambs are measured on farm to provide ASBVs for each lamb for growth rate and carcass traits. These values are combined in an index to allow an accurate selection of rams and ewes for genetic improvement of the flock.
This is only one tool that we use in planning our breeding program. We feel that visual appraisal of the sheep is very important, so all of our breeding stock are graded based on physical traits. Particular attention is focused on feet, structural soundness, length and muscling, ease of lambing, wool cover and type. |
