The Aussie ram rush: American breeders bet big on down under genetics

An Australian-developed sheep breed is continuing its infiltration into the United States market, with the number of animals and breeders growing quickly.

The Australian White breed has been finding fans fast among sheep breeders in the US, with buyers even making the trip to Australia to see them in person, while the word could spread even further after the meat was featured on a popular YouTube site.

At the 2024 Tattykeel Australian White sale, Texas producers, Dax and Michelle Dittrich, Peak Ovine LLC, were on site at Black Springs to inspect their new purchase, a semen share in Tattykeel 230703, after importing Australian White embryos.

At the 2025 sale, breeders from Missouri and Mississippi made the trip across, negotiating a semen share in keeper ram Tattykeel ET 250151, a full brother to Tattykeel Power, which had sold for $50,000 during the sale.

The ram's sire was Tattykeel 220018, a son of the $240,000, meat sheep price record-holding Tattykeel Platinum, while the dam was Tattykeel 211135.

Russell Schmidt, Serenity Sheep Farm, McComb, Mississippi, US, who farms about 100 sheep with his wife Pam, bought the share alongside Ryan and Marque Renshaw, Peace in the Valley, West Plains, Missouri.

He first came across Australian Whites at an annual agricultural conference in Tennessee, after striking up a conversation with someone across the table.

When he began looking into the breed, he was impressed with what it represented.

"A four-month-old lamb was as big as a six-month-old (of other breeds)," he said.

"They're the most amazing animal I've seen in my life.

"I bought some ewes and the rest is history."

Mr Schmidt runs about 100 Katahdin sheep, a US-developed breed with hair, but has begun to grow his Australian White numbers.

"I have eight ewes but they're not like this (at Tattykeel)," he said.

"I've reached a point where if I'm going to be the best, then here is the best."

Mr Schmidt predicts the breed will soon have a bigger place.

"This breed is fixing to change the US," he said.

"We're trying to educate and help people."

Their first production sale is expected in 12-months time, in September 2026, offering Australian White sheep.

Mr Renshaw runs about 400 to 500 sheep, including "a lot of Australian White-influenced ewes" with Katahdin-crosses and five full-blood rams.

He said the breed was a particular passion of his wife Marque, who had been following them for years.

The Australian White breed, which was first launched in Australia in 2011, first made its presence known in the US in 2019, when Alabama farmer Daniel Fagerman debuted it with a taste-testing at Hartselle, Alabama.

Breeders have also established an American Australian White Sheep Breeders Association, which follows closely the local Australian White Sheep Breeders Association, with similar bylaws and breed standards.

On its website, the AAWSBA has 34 members from about 25 different states.

Tattykeel's James Gilmore said growth into the US was never a conscious goal for their breeding, but had been boosted by them introducing their Australian White lamb brand, Margra, into the US.

They also shipped 1000 embryos to the US in August.

Mr Gilmore said most of the feedback from US producers was that they were interested in the eating quality of the breed.

The Australian White brand received another boost in the US market when it was recently featured on the YouTube channel of Max the Meat Guy, which has 8.23 million followers.

Boston-based host Max Greb set out to cook "the Wagyu of every animal", comparing high-end, or "elevated", options against "control" cuts of a range of animals, including rabbit, turkey, pork and eel.

For lamb, it compared a standard rack of lamb, retailing at $US15 a pound ($A50/kilogram) with a rack of Australian White, which at $89/lb ($300/kg) was five times more expensive than the supermarket version.

The end result was a meal that received their highest rating.

The only species that scored higher was the original Wagyu beef itself, retailing at $300/lb ($1010/kg).

The 45-minute video, with Australian White lamb discussed about four minutes in, has received more than three million views.

Mr Gilmore said they had not had any involvement in the video but expected it would help boost the reputation of the breed and its meat further, particularly given the research they had been doing with James Cook University to back up their eating quality claims.

"And this is just out of the paddock, not the feedlot, or long-fed like Wagyu," he said.

He said many of the US breeders they spoke with indicated they were expecting growth in the breed to come.

"They felt they are over here in front of the pack," he said.

An Australian White stud at Ontario, Canada, is also listed on the local association's website.