Wirlinga Park White Dorpers continued its perfect record at the recent Australian Sheep and Wool Show at Bendigo.
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The stud, on the edge of Lake Hume just outside Albury, took a team of 34 white dorpers to Bendigo, for the fourth year.
It proved to be the fourth successive year Wirlinga Park has won Best Overall White Dorper Exhibitor.
“We won reserve champion senior ewe and junior champion ewe and also the Breeders Group, which was remarkable because the group were only 3-month-old lambs but a very even promising group,” joint principal Julie Glinski said.
“We therefore represented the White Dorpers in the Interbreed Section for the third time.”
In addition the Whirling Park team won seven first place, seven second place and five third place ribbons.
“For each of the years we have shown the ewes have won either Reserve champion or champion,” she said.
“We also hold the record for the highest priced White Dorper Ram sold at that sale.”
Whirlinga Park Stud was established just five years ago with a parcel of ewes from Terraweena Dorper Stud near Toowoomba and has grown from a select starter flock of 30 plus ewes to nearly 600.
The family operation has shifted focus from breeding lambs for the meat market to supplying quality rams and ewes for both commercial and stud breeders in NSW, Victoria and beyond.
The white dorper and dorper breeds are an extremely hardy, adaptable and easy care meat sheep with rapid growth rates in the lambs.
They are highly fertile and poly-oestrous, lambing three times across two years.
Noted for their highly protective mothering abilities the ewes can raise lambs in sub-optimal conditions, providing high turn-over yield for market.
They are self shedding sheep which negates the need for shearing, crutching, mulesing and tail docking.
Their ability to convert lesser quality feed to growth is a highly desirable asset.
“Additionally we have started a Dorper Stud which is showing considerable success, but is still in its foundation stage,” Ms Glinski said.
“It is very rewarding that our clients keep coming back and are progressively buying more at a time.”