AFRINOS

No Mulesing
Afrinos are naturally bare breeched which is good news for australian sheep farmers. They require no muelsing! Evan and Ruth have already sent fat lambs straight off mum that hit the required weight ranges and didn't even require tail docking.

A new breed of sheep
Afrinos are the new breed on the block in Australia. The breed was developed by the South African Department of Agriculture 29 years ago by crossing the Blinkhaar Africander sheep with Merino ewes and then crossing that cross with SAMMs. The breed is 25pc Africander, an indeginous fat tailed sheep, 25pc Merino and 50pc SAMM, but there is no sign of a fat tail. The Maddocks have joined well-known South African breeder Clynton Collett in a joint venture to breed the Afrino in Australia. The Afrino is a white woolled mutton breed developed for slaughter lamb and wool production under extensive conditions.

HISTORY OF THE AFRINO
During the late 1960's, a request was made to the Department of Agriculture by the wool industry, via the South African Agricultural Union, to develop a white woolled breed for the extensive sheep grazing areas.
This breed :
* had to be free of kemp and coloured fibres;
* had to produce a good slaughter lamb at an early age;
* had to have a good reproductive ability.
* had to be hardy and well adapted to the environment of the extensive grazing areas;
Consequently, a breeding project was initiated at the Carnarvon Experimental Station in the North-western Karoo in 1969, whereby it was attempted to develop a white woolled mutton sheep, which combined the quality wool of the Merino with the reproductive performance and mutton producing abilities of the mutton breeds. In 1976 it was evident that the cross consisting of 25% Merino, 25% Ronderib Afrikaner and 50% SA Mutton Merino best fulfilled the requirements set for the new breed. It was decided to retain only this cross for further upgrading and development of the breed that is today known as the Afrino. On 5 February 1980, the Afrino Sheep Breeders' Society was established at a meeting on the Carnarvon Experimental Station and breed standards for this new white woolled mutton breed were drawn up.

Meat and Wool
The Afrino is a white-wooled mutton breed developed for slaughter lamb and wool production under arid conditions. The aim of the breeding program was to increase efficiency of both slaughter lamb and wool production and to develop a hardy and adaptable breed.
In Afrino sheep 80pc of income is generated through meat production and 20pc through wool production. The main selection objective for breeders in South Africa is to increase lifetime weight of lamb produced per ewe. Wool averages 21 micron with an average comfort factor of 98.5pc. There is no skirting of the fleece at shearing time. Each ewe cuts approximately three kilograms of wool.




Maternal Value
The maternal attributes of the breed are significant with excellent mothering ability, high fertility and good milk production resulting in outstanding lambing percentages and a high percentage of live lambs at weaning. Ewes lamb at 12 months old.
The Maddocks have seen strong evidence of this in their own flock, registering up to 138pc lambing in the short time they have had the breed. Ewes produce good prime lambs with Madrino lambs recording an average body weight of 47kg at 120 days.