POLL Dorsets have become the dominant meat sheep in Australia.
Their big frames, rapid growth and good muscling, shaped by decades of careful genetic selection, make them a profitable and reliable choice across a wide range of climatic and grazing conditions.
As good as they are, Poll Dorset stud owner Aaron Pascoe reckons there's room for improvement for specific purposes.
Mr Pascoe, who runs the Claronden Poll Dorset Stud at Caramut with his wife Dee, is experimenting with using Charollais sires across some of their Poll Dorset ewes.
"I got the idea when I took some lambs to Hamilton saleyards. There was a pen of Charollais there and they were very impressive. They stood up well against mine considering that were younger and it was the entire drop," Mr Pascoe said.
Charollais are noted for their rapid growth from birth to trade weight.
The lambs are small at birth, making the Charollais an easy lambing breed, then they quickly catch up and grow out to the trade weight target of 42 to 46 kilograms.
Mr Pascoe said the Charollais don't grow as big as Poll Dorsets, so they are probably not a good choice for producing heavier export lambs.
"We're looking at them for the trade market - lambs that can be grown out quickly then sold off to provide a quick cash flow."
Claronden's first drop of about 80 first-cross lambs are now on the ground and growing rapidly since they were born in August.
"The heaviest has gained 463 grams a day," Mr Pascoe said.
"For an easy lambing sire it's impressive that they have such good growth rate and outstanding carcasses."
He intends to assess the performance of the first-cross lambs then continue the crossbreeding program until he has a pure Charollais line after five generations.
He will also offer about 20 crossbred rams at Claronden's annual ram sale next year.
"We will test whether there is a demand."
Charollais rams are hard to find in Australia. One of the few sources is Charollais Australia at Hamilton, where Colin Hilsden introduced them to the country about seven years ago.
They are one of the main meat breeds in the UK, and it was Mr Hilsden's experience with them in England that prompted him to bring them to Australia when he moved here.
Mr Pascoe bought his first Charollais from Mr Hilsden and is waiting for another.
Mr Pascoe said the introduction of Charollais genetics appeared to be an alternative to extreme manipulation of the Poll Dorset breed to achieve particular aims.
"If you look at the things that Lambplan is trying achieve, the Charollais already have those characteristics."
He named low birth weight, high muscling and growth, high intramuscular fat, tender eating quality, bare points and tight skin as traits natural to the breed.
Claronden runs a mix of commercial and stud sheep, selling up to 150 rams per year.
