St. Croix Sheep
Our high percentage St. Croix sheep breeding stock was acquired from respected grazing expert, Greg Judy. After many years of selective culling, Greg produced excellent, parasite resistant, low-input sheep bred specifically for their very mild and extremely tender meat. They are not your standard wool sheep. Greg also provided our first protection dogs (Samson and Delilah).
Australian (American) White Sheep
Our full blood registered Australian White rams originated from Australian embryos implanted in surrogates in the United States. We began breeding our established St. Croix female flock to our Australian White sheep in October of 2022 and expect to start lambing at the end of February 2023. The following is an excerpt from the Australian White USA website1.
The Australian White (AW) breed started as a stabilized composite hair sheep. It was developed in Australia by crossing the Poll Dorset, White Dorper, Texel, and Van Rooy. It was introduced in the USA in the fall of 2018 by Fagerman Farm based in North Alabama.
The original key objectives in developing the breed were:
- A meat sheep that did not need shearing or crutching
- Was resistant to pests (lice and flies)
- A polyestrous ewe that could be joined year-round
- An animal with good carcass shape and eating quality
The end goal was to produce lamb in a more economical and viable way, reducing costs and labor, and increasing yield whilst still retaining good eating quality.
The lamb was designed to better meet the needs of large-scale meat producing systems without the complications that come with producing wool.
The AW is now recognized for its excellent eating qualities. It is a fine textured (fine grained), very soft, and clean tasting meat. It is high in omegas, which is its single most distinguishing factor from other sheep breeds.
The American White is the counterpart or “purebred” of the Australian White that incorporates genetics available in the USA1.