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Over the past 30 years the stud has focused mainly on conformation and adaptability in extreme conditions but farming in harmony with mother nature. With increasing wool prices, we invested most of our time fine tuning our ewes for wool quality, crimp and fleece weight.
We aim to wean over 110% lambs on average. We do not provide extra feed to our ewes (season permitting) which result in our sheep being adaptable in most conditions.
Our selection criteria is based on selecting ewes and rams for wool cover on all points especially the underline. No compromise on creeping bellies. Our typical special stud ewe would weigh over 65kg, cut over 5.5kg wool at 10 months and below 20.0 micron. We aim for A-B lengths at 7-8 months. Trumps sheep is known in the industry for having the best conformation. They grow very fast and we typically wean our lambs from their mothers at 3 months old.
We are strict on structure, feet placing, neck extensions, back and shoulder placing and overall balance and correctness of the animal.
We keep only the best ram of each drop and use our top stud rams as young rams to either AI or to perform natural mating. This ram plays the biggest role for future generations, therefore he has to be high on all indexes such as body and fleece weight, micron, staple length and very importantly, comfort factor.
We AI 1000 plus ewes annually of which 50% is poll and the other 50% horn and up to date we have completed an embryo program in partnership with our handy vet team at GeneCo.
Over the century the Trumps Merino Stud has won many shows, measured production competitions and sheep and wool competitions. On national sales the stud has achieved various South African record prices through the years.
We are passionate to be involved in the wool and meat industry and value our role in developing a sustainable merino that would take us forward in the years to come.
Our wool
Type Micron Yield
AH 18.3 72.6%
BMY 19.1 72.4%
BM 19-20 73.1%
Average micron overall is 19.7
12 month wool cut of stud ewes is 5-7kg - depending on season
Our Meat
Average carcass weight of stud ewes on veld: 62kg plus (some freaks weigh over 80kg)
Average weaning weight of lambs 100 days from veld:30-35kg
The meat is characterized as very tender with a very good marble score.
Our sheep have been bred and developed to increase weight over the first 6 months and are well know in the feedlots for early growers
Other things we strive for
Breeding objective:
Quick growth rates and wool cut in balance with terrain.
Big focus on length of wool and crimp definition for A-B lengths at 6 to 7 months.
Hardiness:
Generally we do not assist our ewes with nutrition but in recent years with droughts it was needed. Our sheep are very hardy and we guarantee this to our clients.
Structure:
Trumps sheep are known to be extremely well built with big plain fast maturing bodies.
Weaning percentage:
110% over the last 10 years
Sale offer:
Graaff Reinet National Sale 8 rams
On farm March:
50 Rams
On farm Sept:
50 Rams
Health Protocol:
We follow the yearly vaccination program subscribe by animal health specialists
Mating program:
We mate our ewes in Sept and March 500 stud ewes per mating we do by AI and we also do embryo transfer approx 10-20 top ewes per mating. The rest we mate naturally in the veld.