At Richmond we are focussed on a balanced approach to classing combining visual appraisal with judicious use of measurement which mostly comes in the form of ASBVs (Australian sheep breeding values). We strongly believe that the two selection methods should compliment each other and the balanced use of both is the most efficient way to move our flock forwards. Every ewe is visually assessed in the race on an annual basis and must pass a stringent criteria based on skin structure, fibre quality and confirmation. It is only then that the animals raw measurements and ASBVs are studied and if she falls outside the acceptable parameters then she is either culled or relegated from the stud into the commercial flock. During stud joining every ewe is carefully matched to a sire that will enhance her strengths and correct any weaknesses and there are no traditional’ special stud’ and ‘double stud’ mobs or any distinct family groups.

There are 5 components that control our selection procedure creating the Richmond phenotype and encompassing what we believe are the major profit drivers of a commercial enterprise.

• SKIN STRUCTURE- The sheep must be plain bodied with no visible wrinkle evident possessing a skin that is thin and supple.
• FIBRE- The wool must be silky soft and highly aligned with a crimp that is deep and bold for its micron forming small fibre bundles as opposed to traditional thick staples. It should be white and free of suint, evenly nourished and very long.
• GROWTH- A concerted effort has been made over time to continually improve growth and carcase traits as we feel the merino of the future must have a strong meat focus and be competitive in this aspect with all other breeds. An emphasis is placed on early maturity and rapid early weight gain enabling lambs to meet specific markets. Muscle development and fat cover are also given high priority with all ram and ewe lambs scanned for these traits as yearlings. Muscle depth and fat cover have historically been overlooked and greatly underestimated traits within the merino industry however in recent years valuable research work has identified strong links between these traits and other important profit drivers such as fertility, constitution, lamb survival and parasite resistance.
• FERTILITY- We consider fertility to be a major profit driver under current market conditions. High lambing percentages enable self-replacing flocks to place more selection pressure on their breeding ewes resulting in greater genetic gain and a higher turnover of sale sheep. At Richmond all dry ewes are culled and a strong emphasis is placed on twinning resulting in regular weaning percentages of over 120%. Don’t take notice of outdated theories that merino flocks do not need to be highly fertile. The modern merino is a dual purpose animal with wether lambs and surplus sheep sales forming in most cases over 50% of the flocks annual income.
• CONFIRMATION- It goes without saying that all our sheep must be structurally correct and this is the first thing we look at in the classing race. We like our sheep to have long bodies and good neck extension with a triple wedge body shape. We are also aware that with increased selection pressure on early growth and high muscling we also need to maintain length, ground clearance and the framework that enables animals to reproduce, forage and grow both meat and wool under less than perfect grazing conditions.

At Richmond we combine Australian Sheep Breeding Values with wool tests and raw data to drive our selection decisions.

All rams are side sampled each year as close as we can practically get to sale date which usually means about early August. We use OFDA fibre measurements as it gives a more accurate reading of higher quality wools being superior to laser scan at picking up ultra-fine fibres below 10 micron. We place strong emphasis on selection for animals with high comfort factors and low CVs as we feel these measurements give a better reflection of fibre quality than micron alone.

We use Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) which we feel form an integral part of decisions at classing time and more specifically at joining when determining which rams will compliment which ewes and vice versa. ASBVs are an estimation of an animals true genetic merit. They are generated by taking into consideration many factors that may affect the animals genotype that may not necessarily be expressed visually. Some of these factors include differing birth dates, twins or singles, hereditary influences of parents and ancestors and differing environmental and management influences across flocks(ie how well they have been fed). These factors are then used in conjunction with the animals raw measurements to create a breeding value for a particular trait. If the animal has ancestors that also have recorded data then the accuracy of the breeding value increases. Being a commercially focused stud with no production feeding regimes we have embraced ASBVs not only because they are a more accurate guide than raw figures but also because it gives both us and our clients the ability to benchmark ourselves against other flocks on a level playing field.

At Richmond we are not interested in any form of show ring activity, shedding or feeding regimes that are designed to artificially pump up sale sheep. Rams that are shedded have no exposure to environmental influences and their fleeces will generally remain white and free of weather damage no matter what their genetic makeup may be. Even a limited amount of shedding prior to sale day will have a noticeable visual effect on how the animals fleece presents. Buyers are often disappointed when the rams progeny display suint or fleece rot.

Likewise rams that spend most of their lives on self- feeders or show feed mix will always be bigger and fatter with more muscle depth than their paddock run counterparts. Their true carcase traits are not visually expressed with muscle depth and fat cover being especially difficult to determine. Once again the buyer is often disappointed as the rams usually go backwards when they are taken off their extreme plane of nutrition and more importantly their progeny are never able to achieve the growth rates that are expected of them. There is also strong evidence that overfed rams can suffer from both short term and in some cases permanent fertility problems.

Richmond sale rams are all paddock run and given every opportunity to express their faults before sale day they are extensively tested with data collected for multiple traits and have pedigrees going back in some cases up to six generations. All this helps us to develop increasingly accurate breeding values which gives our clients the confidence to make educated decisions when selecting their future sires.