SheepMaster History
SheepMaster is the product of decades of focused innovation by Australian sheep breeder Neil Garnett.
Neil began his journey at Glenroy, his family’s Merino stud in Western Australia before purchasing Collinsville stud in 1985.
In the early 1990s Neil changed focus to a new challenge - developing a meat sheep that would thrive under Australian conditions, with low labour, strong carcass traits, and high fertility.
The SheepMaster was born.
The guiding principles of the new SheepMaster breed were:
Naturally shedding silky coat — no shearing, no tailing, no mulesing
Good bones and structurally correct
Offer excellent carcass yield and muscle expression
Resist parasites and perform in tough environments
Produce more lambs, more efficiently
Excellent mothering ability, fertility and small, sound udders
The core of the breed started with the Damara, an African shedding breed with strong survival, herding and mothering instincts and high productivity.
Over 25 years the Damara genetics have been blended with Van Rooy, White Dorper, Finn, East Fresian, White Suffolk, Ultrawhite and Kojak genetics to create a naturally shedding, high fertility, fast maturing, low maintenance, high production meat sheep built for Australian Conditions.
SheepMaster was designed for commercial efficiency, animal welfare, and eating quality — the three things the future of lamb depends on