Article by Steve & Deb Milne, AWSA
Superwhites is a group of White Suffolk breeders who are focused on producing high performance White Suffolk rams for the prime lamb industry. The group has been in operation since 1995, and collectively they sell over 4,000 rams annually.
Members use LAMBPLAN as a tool to assist in the evaluation and selection of sheep. It is also used to identify sires from outside the group that fit their breeding program. As a result, the rate of genetic gain for Superwhites members is higher than the average of all terminal sire breeds for all commercially important traits.
Superwhites currently has 19-member flocks located in most of the major sheep producing regions of Australia. Each year members nominate young rams and a sire team is selected to be allocated to member flocks. The sire team for 2018 drop is
- Felix 150721 (link sire- used by all members)
- Ella Matta 160277
- Ashmore 160516
- Farrer 160067
- Farrer 160068
- Waratah 160253
- Trigger Vale 160830
- Yanco 160003
The Superwhites group is currently partnering with the MLA Donor Company in a project to increase the rate of genetic gain in hard to measure traits like eating quality and lean meat yield. The project will use Superwhites to demonstrate how much genetic progress can be made using genomic testing and phenotypic measurement. This will lead to improved selection accuracy and faster rate of genetic gain.
For more information contact Superwhites Chair Andrew Heinrich (Ella Matta).
