Bogo Merinos have gained a reputation as one of Australia’s most progressive Merino studs. The profitable performance-based genetics they breed has placed them at the top echelon of the Merino industry. Picture supplied
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The well-known and established Bogo Merino stud, Cootamundra, has secured the foundation Glenfinnan White Suffolk stud from Young, to enhance their offering of high-end feedstock genetics to their clients.
The Glenfinnan stud, formerly owned by the Hayes family, John and Anna, with their daughters Lucy and Alice has had a rich history, with Anna’s father, Jock Litchfield, working in conjunction with the University of NSW to establish the breed in 1978.
The team at Bogo Genetics are keen to carry on the legacy established at Glenfinnan and apply their breed philosophies to continue to grow and improve the Glenfinnan stud operation.
Matt Crozier, Bogo Genetics, General Manager, said the acquisition of the Glenfinnan stud allowed them to grow their seedstock offering to their current Merino client base.
“As we know many Merino operations join a portion of their Merino ewe base to a terminal sire, so we took the opportunity to secure one of the country’s top White Suffolk studs, that aligns to our principals and the type of sheep we want to breed to allow our clients to come to Bogo Genetics as a one stop shop,” Mr Crozier said.
“We also aim to develop new clients focusing on prime lamb production as their main enterprise.
“Sheep genetics are what we do and this next step in our journey allows us to help our clients further with the profitability of their sheep on farm and help ensure they are maximising every step of their production system.”
Bogo Genetics will use the same technology and know-how as they currently do to produce the most profitable sheep across all relevant commercial traits. Picture supplied
Mr Crozier said Bogo Merinos had gained a reputation as one of Australia’s most progressive Merino studs and the profitable, performance-based genetics they breed, sit them at the top echelon of the Merino industry.
“Our goal is to continue the strong base at Glenfinnan and the high-performance genetics they were producing and further develop the stud as new technology and genetics allows us to,” he said.
“As a mark of our commitment to this goal we have recently searched for and sourced a couple of new White Suffolk stud sires with leading industry indexes from around the country.
“We intend to continue to invest in the best possible outside genetics to benchmark our own sheep to ensure we are right at the top in performance.
“We combine years of experience with the latest innovative techniques in breeding technology, like DNA parentage, genomics and ASBVs, to be used as the modern-day tools, assisted with the traditional ways of visual assessment to achieve the fastest genetic gains.”
Bogo Genetics stud manager Austin Grace said they will use the same technology and know-how as they currently do to produce the most profitable sheep, across all relevant commercial traits.
“We have a strong focus on structural correctness whenever we are classing any of our sheep,” Mr Grace said
“Whether it’s a Merino or a White Suffolk the same visual fundamentals are so important.
“The sheep must have good feet and legs, length and depth of barrel and good doing ability.”
At Glenfinnan, the focus was always on fertility, growth, and muscling, with an aim to keep all the rams within the top 10 percentile bracket of ASBVs within the industry.
The aim is to produce rams that will deliver more lambs with low to moderate birth weights, faster growth and higher yields.
Bogo Genetics intends to continue to invest in the best possible outside genetics to benchmark their own sheep to ensure they are right at the top in performance. Picture supplied
Lamb meat eating quality has become a strong focus, and the team at Glenfinnan is looking at ways to improve intramuscular fat traits and consistency of product to meet the ever-changing demands of the market, specifications and the end consumer.
The Bogo Genetics team recently hosted an on-farm field day where Will Barton from Gundagai Lamb outlined the significant premiums now available for lambs with the right eating quality traits. Getting the genetics and flock management right has the potential to pay dividends to the modern lamb producer.
The Hayes family has used the lamb plan since its inception as a tool to improve traits they believe were important to producing the best prime lamb possible.
Their focus on growth rates and muscling has put the stud well ahead of the terminal breed average, while keeping the birth weights moderate across the flock.
Mr Grace said, “The Glenfinnan flock is an absolute credit to the Hayes family’s commitment to the breed, their attention to detail and their dedication to focusing on the key commercial traits important to the progress lamb producer”.
The 2024 lamb drop secured in the sale, will become the cohort for our first annual on property sale for the White Suffolk stud in September, offering approximately 150 rams on the day.
The new venue for the Glenfinnan White Suffolk sale, will be the home of Bogo Genetics, “Springfield”, Cootamundra, on Friday September 12.
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