Willows Prime Lamb Genetics

About

'The Willows' has been in the Harpley family since 1854 and was originally a dairy. The forbears took camp on the creek while travelling to Lambing Flat Gold Fields and decided to stay. Today it is farmed by the fifth generation with the sixth generation just around the corner. Historically the farm ran a flock of Corriedale ewes joined to Poll Dorset rams. Kel Harpley, the fourth generation to run the farm, was convinced by a friend to give Black Faced Suffolks a try. He joined half his flock to Suffolk rams and half to his usual Dorsets. Because of the black heads the lambs were easily identified and compared to their Dorset counterparts and he was impressed with what he experienced - loading the first truck of suckers there was black face after black face. More lambs, faster growth, and less lambing issues. The black heads presented a problem however - there was a bias toward white faced lambs at the saleyards, not for any real reason to do with lamb quality (carcase competitions were being smashed by Black Faced Suffolks) - it was simply an excuse for the buyers as it provided a point of difference. This is where the current White Suffolk Stud has its origins and it is tied in closely with the development of the breed itself. Kel became an integral part of the development of this fledgling breed of sheep and was a member of 'Prime Lamb Genetics Limited' - The trust that bred the original nucleus flock of White Suffolks and continued on the work of refining and cementing the breed within the Australian Prime Lamb Industry. The attributes of the breed are: