Sheep studs throughout Southern New South Wales opened their gates, to kick off the first day of Sheep Week.
Check out all of the photos and videos below, and make sure to tag any of your own photos or videos with the hashtag #SheepWeek.
One of the stud’s that opened its gates was Karrawarra Pastoral, who presented good lines of Highlander TM ewes (a maternal strain), and FocusPrime TM terminal sires.
Leo Herbert, Kate Brabin and Jim Meckiff, Focus Genetics Australia, were on hand to discuss the relative merits of each of these breeds, that are based on the original genetics imported from New Zealand.
Ms Brabin said the Highlander TM breed is renowned for its strong maternal instincts and ability to turn over lambs at a young age.
“They are really great mothers,” Ms Brabin said.
“They are maternally efficient, raise multiple lambs through to weaning and still produce a fleece of around four kilograms.”
The ewes are selected for their ability to wean lambs at their own body weight, which Ms Brabin said is around 65kg for a mature ewe.
Last year, a draft of ewe lambs joined at six months, scanned at 133 per cent at seven months, and weaned 129pc.
“We like a nicely balanced ewe which puts a lot of effort into rearing a lot of lambs,” she said.
“They are like a ‘keg on legs’, a ‘tank of meat!”