How these Border Leicester breeders are joining forces to shake up genetics

A chance meeting at a Sheep Genetics event in Melbourne only a few months ago was all it took for two Border Leicester studs from different states to realise, together, they could take the breed's genetics in a new direction.

The two studs - New Armatree Border Leicesters, run by the Bradley family at Armatree, NSW, and Inverbrackie, run by the Arneys at Strathalbyn, SA - were not only spruiking the same message but had reached the same point in their breeding philosophies independently of each other.

Their new direction, the emphasis of which is on marketing, has been kicked off under the name of The Modern Border Leicester.

New Armatree stud principal Craig Bradley said both studs had increasingly been moving in a different direction from the core of the Border Leicester breed, including how they targeted commercial traits such as soundness and productivity.

"We thought there was probably an opportunity to get together and promote that, and give our ram-buying clients an opportunity to get onto our coat tails and use that marketing for their own promotion of their first-cross progeny sired by the 'modern' Border Leicester rams," he said.

Inverbrackie stud principal Lynton Arney said the two studs had similar data.

"We're leading the industry on the Border Leicester Cross index, on post weaning weight, on fat, weaning rate, muscle and all those things actually contribute to building a more resilient animal that's going to be more highly productive for the industry," he said.

Mr Arney said the two studs, despite being so far removed geographically, even had shared clients seeking this type of animal.

"While we're 1200km apart, we still actually share some clients between us, and we've only had positive feedback from those people," he said.

"But what we're doing by working together, talking about one product versus the New Armatree ram and the Inverbrackie ram, or progeny of those rams, is just going to help build the story between the two of us."

New Armatree stud co-principal Jenny Bradley said commercial client feedback had been promising with higher weaning rates from first-cross ewes and better conception rates at a younger age.

"The first-cross wether lamb, which is the other half of the story, finishes much earlier because of the growth and because of the balance of muscle and fat, they finish in a carcase shape that tends to lead to a higher dressing percentage (yield) as well," she said.

Mr Arney said there would be slight differences between the two studs, but the overall direction they're both headed meant their sheep were similar in key economic traits.

While at the moment the Modern Border Leicester is only comprised of the two initiating studs, both of which had also gained experience in this sort of thing through their former involvement as members of the performance breeders group, SuperBorders, they were also open to welcoming more members if their breeding objectives and data aligned with their new direction.

"We're not closed to welcoming other people into this group, provided they embrace the balanced view that we're taking," Mr Arney said.

Ms Bradley said, ultimately, this new partnership allowed them to promote a new direction within the breed.

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