IAN Turner firmly believes the introduction of the White Suffolk breed has helped to bring about enormous improvements to the Australian prime lamb scene.
As one of the founding breeders, and the first president of the White Suffolk Association – he should know.
This year, the White Suffolk breed is celebrating its 30th anniversary, but Mr Turner said it wasn't all smooth sailing in the beginning.
In the late 1970s, he and his family were running a mixed farming operation on Kangaroo Island, South Australia.
Part of his operation incorporated Suffolk sheep, but they were discounted because of their black points.
"As much as we loved Suffolks, we needed to make a quid," he said.
Poll Dorsets were the dominant terminal sire at that point, but on the marginal country where most Suffolk clients ran their sheep – grass seeds were a big problem.
At the same time Professor Euan Roberts was running a trial at Hay with the University of NSW to see if it was possible to develop the White Suffolk breed.
This management issue, plus the Suffolk breed's smaller market share, despite their performance worldwide, were key motivations behind the research.
By initially crossing Suffolks with predominately Poll Dorsets, the main aim was to produce a sheep that had the desired clean and white points, along with lambing ease and no grass seed benefits.
Mr Turner said the results marked the beginnings of the White Suffolk breed, and other breeders (including him) quickly got on board.
"The results proved so popular the momentum took an experimental project on to rapidly become a breeding supply option," he said.
"In the beginning we were seen as rebels, but the reality was the demand was there…many people were crying out for an alternative breed. We had nothing to lose."
The breed's popularity snowballed from there, but Mr Turner always said at the time that White Suffolks would only be as successful as their commercial relevance.
"That statement still stands today," he said.
"We started using objective measurements and testing right from the start; and many of the White Suffolk rams came out on top over other breeds. With the adoption a performance recording at the same time, that really helped producers to identify the best performing sires."
He also believed the development of the White Suffolk breed would benefit Poll Dorsets.
"And that came true, because Poll Dorsets were forced to come out of that complacency they had at the time to counter White Suffolks and have improved greatly over the last three decades," he said.
Mr Turner added that competition from the new breed was one of the "greatest things" for the advancement of the lamb industry.
Since the breed's official commencement, Mr Turner spent 10 years with the White Suffolk Association, and is now a life member.
He dispersed his sheep in the late 1990s, but his involvement with the sheep industry continues today via a marketing and public relations role through his and his wife Wendy's business, Superior Selections.
