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| Plain bodied sheep with high fleece weights and no mulesing. |
| Details |
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| Stud name: |
Parkdale Merino Stud |
| Owners: |
Don & Pam, Robert & Meg, Scott, Tammy and Sarah Mudford |
| Address: |
MS4 Collie Road Dubbo NSW 2830 |
| Telephone: |
02 6887 6266 |
| Email: |
parkdale@activ8.net.au |
| Annual rainfall: |
550 millimetres |
| Mulesing ceased: |
2004 |
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Young sale rams at Parkdale. Every ram is plain bodied with high body growth. |
| About Parkdale Merino Stud |
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Parkdale has developed a remarkable stud flock of Merino and Poll Merino sheep. The sheep are plain-bodied, are not mulesed and produce high fleece weights of very soft wool.
The stud is an important genetic resource for bare breech and naturally short tailed Merino sheep that have exceptionally high fertility. |
| The Flock |
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Parkdale is a large Merino breeding flock. There are a total of 8,000 Merino ewes on three New South Wales properties at Dubbo, Collie and Enngonia. It has the capacity to develop rapidly into a major supplier of Merino rams. The stud component currently involves 2,000 breeding ewes.
Parkdale blood sheep at Birrimba Station, Enngonia (north of Bourke, New South Wales) have not been mulesed and have received no chemical treatment to prevent fly strike. The sheep have come through two wet summers of 550 millimetres of rain in 2007/08 and again in 2009/10 with no body strike and less than 0.5% tail strike. This has been a remarkable achievement. Traditionally bred and classed flocks in the district have had up to 30% of sheep struck. |
| Bare Breech Genetics |
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In the process of breeding plain-bodied Merino sheep with open faces, the special trait of a wool-free breech or 'bare breech' has developed quickly.
Often there is no wool on the scrotum and udder. |
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| The Sires |
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Parkdale ram WD1, pictured right in 2003, was the first of the bare breech rams used in the Parkdale Merino stud.
WD1 has proven to be an exceptional wool sire. At 2.5 years of age, the ram weighed 112 kilograms and had a mean fibre diameter of 19.1 microns with a low coefficient of variation of 14.2%. His progeny are long and deep bodied sheep that mostly carry the bare breech trait. |
Parkdale Merino sire WD1. |
Parkdale ram PD296, seen right in 6 months wool, was the next bare breech sire to be used extensively in the stud. Born in 2005, his fleece had a mean diameter of 19.1 microns and a coefficient of variation of 14.1% at 16 months of age. Note the open face with no wool growing on the jaw line or on the legs. The ram has a massive frame and is highly fertile. In 2009, PD296 was joined to 100 ewes and these ewes reared 160 lambs. The ram has bred exceptionally well. |
Parkdale Merino sire PD296 |
The bare breeched ram, PD8414 pictured right, is the youngest of the battery of bare breeched sires at Parkdale. He has been used as a wool sire. He has an exquisitely soft and long wool which is evident from his fleece surface. |
Parkdale Merino sire PD8414. |
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| Short tail genetics |
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We have introduced naturally short tails to the Parkdale flock using several Finnish Landrace rams.
The transition to short tailed progeny, as shown right, has been rapid.
The short tailed sheep have excellent muscular control which allows the tail to be elevated clear of the urine stream. At the half length shown here, the sheep do not need to be tail docked and the undersurface of the tail is largely free of wool. The tails can be naturally shorter than this.
We have observed that the shorter the tail on the lamb, the lower the breech score it has, and the faster the lamb grows. |
Two short tailed rams alongside longer tailed rams. |
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| Fecundity Genetics |
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In 2009, 1750 Parkdale stud ewes weaned 2240 lambs (128%). |
| The Wool |
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The Parkdale ewes
produce, on average, 8.1 kilograms of 19.8 micron wool for 12 months wool growth. There is a remarkable consistency between individual sheep in weight, micron and quality of wool produced. The wool is exceptionally soft and lustrous with a deep and well-defined crimp.
The ewes at Parkdale have been shorn every 8 to 9 months. We are aiming for shearing every 6 months to make management easier. This year we will shear at 7 months and expect the average fleece length to be 80 millimetres. |
| The Rams |
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Parkdale is rapidly becoming a Poll Merino stud. In 2010 there will be approximately 120 Poll rams available for sale along with 240 horned rams. |
| Testimonials |
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'After using Parkdale rams over all our ewes we have seen our 4-year and 5-year ewes scanned in lamb up to 126% from previous years normally getting to 80% - 90%. Also, our Parkdale blood maiden ewes scanned in lamb at 126%. A remarkable rate. We will now have more surplus sheep for sale'.
- A & J Hotchkiss, Baradine, New South Wales. |
'Our introduction to SRS® sheep came with an invitation to the Parkdale SRS® Merino Stud Field Day, held by Dr Jim Watts and the Mudford family, some 6 years ago. The idea of producing "low maintenance", highly productive wool sheep, really came to light after purchasing Parkdale rams and joining them to the "thinner skin" ewes, about 30-40% of our flock. This breeding strategy suggested by Don Mudford after classing our ewes was a real eye opener. The following generations were cutting more wool with finer micron. As well as faster growing and long white softer staples. We were getting "bare breech", clear faces and bare legs on an increasing number of the progeny; this enabled us to cease mulesing in 2006. This low maintenance and highly productive animal has allowed us to shear every 9 months and moving towards 6 months in the near future. Wool growth of 17mm per month is quite impressive and achievable with these large framed, plain bodied sheep. Shearing is much easier than in the past.'
- M & A Day, Trangie, New South Wales. |
'We secured a premium of 60 cents per kilogram for our wool clip for wool shorn from non-mulesed Parkdale SRS® blood sheep.'
- K & C Mudford, Gilgandra, New South Wales. |
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| The People |
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The Mudford family, pictured right, are all involved in the running of the Parkdale Stud. It is a great team effort.
Robert (far right) is also an SRS® classer.
Robert and his wife, Meg, live 500 kilometres north west of Dubbo at Enngonia, 20 kilometres south of the Queensland border on their property 'Birrimba Station' where they run 5,000 ewes and progeny.
Robert can be contacted on tel: 02 6874 7565, mobile: 0428 876 282 and email: robertandmeg@bigpond.com |
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| Calendar of Events |
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Nyngan Ag Expo - Saturday 07 August 2010
Parkdale will be displaying On Property sale rams. View our bare breeched rams. |
Ag-Quip Gunnedah - 17 to 19 August 2010
Parkdale will be displaying On Property sale rams. Call in and have a cuppa and look over our bare breeched rams that could turn your flock to a Merinos Without Mulesing status. |
Parkdale Open Day - 18 September 2010
A great opportunity to see how Parkdale has obtained their Merinos Without Mulesing status. On display will be stud ewes, sires and progeny and On Property sale rams. Discussions regarding community expectations and industry developments will be held and trade displays will be on show. |
SRS® Classic Ram Sale Open Day - 25 September 2010
Parkdale will be on display at the Wellington Showground with stud ewes, sires, progeny and On Property sale rams, also the SRS® Classic Ram Sale team. |
Parkdale Fifth Annual On Property Ram Sale - 29 September 2010
At Parkdale, Collie Road, Dubbo, New South Wales, we will be offering 80 Poll and horned Merino rams. Phone Don on tel: (02) 6887 6266. |
SRS® Classic Ram Sale - 09 October 2010
At the Wellington Showground Parkdale will have for sale 10 Poll Merino rams. |
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