Royal celebrations for White Suffolks

One of them is the Ferguson family, Anna Villa stud, Weetulta, an exhibitor at the Royal for 27 of 29 years.

The only two that Don and Cynthia, and Anthony and Suzanne, had missed showing were the years that father and son judged - Don in 1999 and Anthony in 2008.

Anna Villa has had numerous successes at Adelaide in the White Suffolk judging ring with the first in 1992, when it came close to having a champion ewe trifecta.

"We got the reserve champion ewe, which was our first broad ribbon in the White (Suffolks) and that same year we won the champion Suffolk ewe, which went on to be supreme all-breeds ewe and the champion Poll Dorset ewe, which was reserve supreme."

The stud also won the champion White Suffolk ewe in 2001, 2004, and 2006 feature showing and reserve junior champion ram in 2009.

The Yorke Peninsula stud is also celebrating another major milestone this year - 75 years of breeding stud sheep.

A Dorset Horn stud was established by Anthony's late grandfather Archie in 1940.

It was the combination of animals from the Poll Dorset stud established in 1956 and Suffolk stud in 1973, which produced their first White Suffolks in 1984 - although the family knew them then as 'Dorfulks' at the time.

Anna Villa was the first stud in Australia to offer White Suffolks at auction in 1986 and is in the flock book as stud number five.

"We sometimes had a few misshaps and one year we ended up with a few crossbreds which we kept as rams," Mr Ferguson said.

"We sold them to a long-time client who normally bought Dorsets and the next year he came back looking for four or five. They found they were the fastest growing, best-muscled lambs."

Mr Ferguson credited the White Suffolk breed's incredible success to the progressiveness of the foundation breeders, who worked together for common goals.

They also had the foresight to embrace technology such as AI, ET and more recently JIVET, Lambplan, and sires progeny testing.

"And because we were a new breed we did not follow the mistakes of other breed societies," he said.

The decision to widen the flock book was another factor, giving them the flexibility to introduce top quality genetics from other prime lamb breeds, and enabling them to make rapid genetic gain across a range of economically important traits.

"Breeders in different areas have set criteria they are breeding for which differs but the breed now has the bloodlines available to cater for all these markets," Mr Ferguson said.

Within Anna Villa's own flock there had been marked genetic gains.

"They are longer sheep, smoother through the shoulders, much whiter and faster growing," he said.

"The rams we were using in the early 2000s were about +3 for weaning weight and +8 post-weaning weight but now the weaning weight is +10 and the post-weaning weights are pushing up to +15 to +17."

The Fergusons run about 350 White Suffolk and Suffolk ewes, selling 180-240 rams each year across the two breeds.