History

The Kelvale Poll Merino Stud was registered in 1966 and was based on Collinsville and Pollville bloodlines. At that time Kelvale were breeding large framed sheep with strong wool.

We began to follow the show circuit in 1975 until 1999 having achieved several grand champions and the Supreme Champion Merino at the Adelaide Show in 1986.

 

The evolution

During the 1990’s we were consistently trying to reduce our average micron using micron testing but to no avail. So in 1999 we made a decision to try a different track and attended a workshop conducted by Dr Jim Watts about his breeding objectives and the SRS® program. Following this workshop we met with Dr Watts and employed his services for our classing and breeding program. Since 1999 we have successfully reduced our average micron of the entire flock (stud and commercial) from 23 to 19.5 microns and we are expecting to reduce even further over the next few years. The other added advantages we gained within this system were higher lambing rates, larger animals, higher yielding wool with no fleece rot while being able to maintain our wool cuts and increasing our staple length.

 

Kelvale Genetics Breed

Large Body Size – Kelvale Sheep have been renowned to be some of the largest framed sheep in South Australia.

Higher Lambing Percentages – Consistently achieving over 100% lambing from stud and commercial ewes.

Lower Micron – Currently average 19.5 micron across flock and stud sheep, however the goal is to lower this to 19 micron.

Ease of Shearing – As Kelvale is breeding for less body ripple, shearers shear our sheep with ease.

Soft Lustrous White Wools – Breeding quality wools was a main objective when it was decided to introduce SRS® policies. Now we are breeding super soft, bright, high yielding deep crimping wools.
For easy care and management.

 

Breeding Objectives

Our breeding objective is to improve the density, length and quality of fibres grown on plain bodied sheep of high fecundity, high growth rates and good muscle patterning which has high net feed efficiency.

 

Goals

Wool Cut – We are aiming to shear twice annually cutting 5kg of wool with an average staple length of 80mm each shearing.

Wool Quality – To average 19 micron over the entire flock and yield above 70% in wool tests.

Lambing percentage – Our goal is to have 120% lambing from all ewes mated from both commercial and stud flocks.

Growth rates – To ensure that our lambs are at a mature stage by 7 months of age with a live weight of 50kg. This will enable surplus sheep to have a carcase weight of at least 22kg or ewe lambs can be mated and then carry and raise a lamb successfully.