Most breeders pick one thing to improve. Peter Blackwood picked multiple. When he and his wife Claire took over a Corriedale stud in 2006, they committed to lifting fertility, carcass shape, and wool fineness, all at once, by using ASBVs.

Two decades later, they've lifted lambing from 110% to 150%, refined micron from 28 to 22-24. Peter also says his sheep are shorter and stockier, with better shape and cleaner points, including bare heads. Apparently 10 years on the crutching trailers will do that to a farmer! 

The Performance Corriedale Group, which Peter helped found, conducted a three-year eating quality trial on more than 700 lambs, developing the first genomic tools to predict meat quality in Corriedales, which, as it turned out, had higher intramuscular fat on average than industry benchmarks at 4.6% and some lambs even reaching above 10% IMF.

Peter says he sees the Corriedale as an “all-rounder” breed rather than a “dual purpose” breed. After 20 years of breeding for good structure, fertility, wool and carcase, Peter now sees an opportunity for the Corriedale in modern prime lamb systems, particularly where producers can make the wool pay for the sheep enterprise and let the lambs carry the remaining costs. 

Tune in to hear how Peter and Claire proved you don't have to pick between traits. You can breed a sheep that does fertility, carcass and wool well, all at the same time.

Head Shepherd is brought to you by neXtgen Agri International Limited. 

We help livestock farmers get the most out of the genetics they farm with. Get in touch with us if you would like to hear more about how we can help you do what you do best: info@nextgenagri.com.

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