Wooden Springs Dorper Stud

  The  4th Namoi Dorper  & White Dorper breeders sale will again be held at Gunnedah  NSW . Inspection from 9am at the sale yards on 9th of February 2012. Organisers are expecting approx 60-70 rams 30 fullblood ewes 1000 Commercial  & cross ewe entries . The sale  Agents Davidson & Cameron of Gunnedah. Contact  Agent Dave Henry 0427421829  We have entered 17 Woodensprings Rams  this year, four  have been stud typed 4 . All  the  rams will be weighed and scanned  for EMD and inspected by qualified inspector  prior to sale. It was actually raining as I took the photos so they are a bit hazy.

Winter has been very dry here  at WoodenSprings with no rain for nearly 3 months, so dry we had to start feeding out hay to our ewes with lambs. Just in past couple of days we recieved 10 mls of rain and the grasses have instantly sprung back to life.  Always amazes me how quickly  the grasses responds to such a small amount of rain. So we’re  again hoping for more rain…………………………. but not too much.

 The National Dorper Show and Sale is coming up on the 31st August-1st September. We unfortunately this year due to a  short trip to the hospital for John and a couple of months recovery, have not entered any of our sheep this year, but are looking forward to seeing Australia’s Best Dorpers  on display over the 3 days in Dubbo NSW.

 We have recently had our stud inspection  attended for 2011  by Wicus Cronje. He used the word centrefold quite a few times with our ewes and again said it was not possible for a small stud to produce such quality. So we are again very pleased with our breeding results.

We are a small stud and aim to maintain our flock to a size suited to this property.  The aim is to continually improve the productivity of our soils , pastures and increase the  biodiversity available to enable us to increase the size  and quality of our flock. Last year we planted a tree for every lamb we retained on the property, not all of those trees have survived  the past few dry months unlike our Dorpers.

We currently have Typed Dorper Ewes & Rams , commercial rams & ewes and  cross ewes for sale………….

Phone 02 67687858   to arrange an inspection

 We  are selling the last of our dorper cross ewes, The ewes for sale are either  joined  to a stud dorper ram or  have lambs at foot.  Phone 02 67687858                         

After the hottest week  I have ever experienced,  with our weather station telling us 50+C at 5pm in the evening for the whole week, its so nice to get back to the mid 30s. We have gone from one extreme to the other. The grass has now hayed off  and here 2011 is the year of the Thistles. 

 We sold 4 rams and 2 ewes at the 3rd annual Namoi Dorper & White Dorper sale. Thanks to everyone  involved buyers and vendors, another successful sale. We hope to see everyone again in 2012.

 Stony’s first lambs are due to arrive late February and he is now joining some of our 2010 girls…..

We have had the best winter/ spring rains for years our Dorpers ewes have lambed at 155% for the last joining  with 1/3 of our flock maiden ewes. Pasture conditions have been so good.  The ewes went back in with the ram 4 weeks after lambing. The first lambs from our second  mating  for 2010 are  now starting, and again we are  expecting a high twinning rate with the first of our older ewes already lambing her second set of twin ewes for 2010.  The wetter conditions do have disadvantages, with the need to monitor worm burdens more closely and our old slasher has had to be bought out of retirement, but it is so nice to have green grass at this time of the year .We  have purchased a new ram Newstead Stony.  He will  be used to  join  mostly to our Rover ewes and  his first lambs will arrive early 2011.

 Spring 2006

Spring 2010Weaner RamsWeaner Ewes                                                                         

Spring 2010

We currently have Ewes & Rams  for sale .  Some photos on the sale page.

 The National Dorper sale is to be held in Dubbo NSW on the 1st September 2010 and will be interfaced with Auctionsplus Pty Ltd. Our sale entries headed off  to Dubbo on Sunday 29th thanks to Anne & Graham Budd of Old Munbilla Stud,  We have  had to withdraw lot 176  from due to injury. He will make a full recovery but is not fit to travel at the moment. ( just got a bit excited and slipped in the mud while on the lead). So ater a flat tyre repair and a visit from our vet, on Sunday morning all  the remaining enteries were loaded and have arrived safely at the Dubbo Showgrounds. We are not totally happy with our presentation, but are happy we have them presented at the sale. All the sheep were shorn on the 27/7/10 after which, we  have had very cold ,wet  weather ( best winter rain we have had since moving here 3 years ago) so the Rams are  all looking a little fluffy.  All will shed  as soon as they get some warmer weather.  They have  all been on pasture only , supplemented with dry hay since the lush green feed has emerged,  a  gradual introduction of  Furneys stud & show feed mix for 1 week prior, just to get them used to the penning required for the sale.

The National Dorper & White dorper Show is to be held in Dubbo NSW  on the 30th,31st and 1st September. The three days will be the showcase for the best Dorpers in Australia. We  have entered Rams and Ewes in the sale on the 1st September,  4 rams , a selection from all 3 of our  current sires  Douggie ,Winrae Bruce and Rover. Rover’s  ram lamb 90212 is the youngest  of our rams entered in the sale. We have also entered 2 young ewes ,  ready for you to join to your sire , they are  both twins from our favourite ( best) ewe dams  Buckle & Twiggy, very fertile, great mothers and both ewes have produced  South African typed rams and ewe progeny.   It’s been either raining or very muddy  so it  has been difficult  to get  ok photos,  without to much mud on the sheep. Some Photos  of our entries  are now on  the For Sale Page………

Twiggy  with  her twin ewe  lambs. Dam of Rover/Jr and Boss.   See Sires Page………

Lambing is going well we now have 18 sets of twins and 10 single lambs on the ground. The foxes have been about with all the twin births its always more of a problem,  our alpaca Bailey is great, we have never lost a lamb when he’ s in the paddock, so far so good and we  now have a few less  foxes in the world .

We have recently had our stud flock South African graded by Wicus Cronjie,  and again  we are pleased with our breeding results in terms of studded stock for such a small stud with over 50%  of presented stock  stud grading . Autumn lambing is about to commence and with  most of the ewes expected to twin, the herd population will double/ triple in the next few weeks,with little Bruce & Rover lambs.   Woodensprings Rover will be our major sire for 2010.    Woodensprings Boss  &  Woodensprings Douggie jr will also be used in our stud this year, and  old Amarula Douggie will always remain on call.   Winrae Bruce  will be available for sale on completion of his current joining. We now have young rams available sired by all 3 rams

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