The benefits of breeding AMM® sheep accrue from the animal's :

• high feed conversion efficiency
• high lamb production and survival
• unique wool and skin
• not needing to be mulesed

High Feed Conversion

AMM® sheep have been bred for high feed conversion on both sparse desert diet and highly improved pasture. This allows the sheep to display under all nutritional conditions, its genetic capacity to produce -

• high fleece weights of fine diameter wool
• 130% or more lambs with minimal lamb losses
• lambs of high carcase weight and high red meat yield

This AMM® ewe is 13 months old and just cutting its two permanent incisor teeth. Reared in a severe drought in 2004, the sheep produced a fleece 220 millimetres long and 17.5 microns fibre diameter.

The lambs reach a carcase weight of 26kgs at 9 months months of age with a red meat yield of about 52%.

These 12 month old AMM® ewes were joined at 6 months of age and produced over 100% of lambs.

We have achieved these outcomes by:

• always selecting for big and plain-bodied Merino sheep with a 'triple wedge' shape and long loin, high rump and well muscled hindquarters
• avoiding supplementary feeding and never putting rams in sheds

Note the 'triple wedge' shape of the AMM® sheep, particularly the long necks, angular shoulders and wide hind quarters.

High Lamb Production and Survival

Maximising lamb survival and lifetime lamb production from each breeding ewe is of paramount importance. We do this by selecting maiden ewes (below left) which rear twins, milk from four teats (below centre) and produce lambs with long and fine outer coats (below right). The long and fine outer coat of the lamb protects it from harsh weather. It is also a feature that is an early indicator of sheep with high levels of fibre density and fibre length and capable of producing high fleece weights of fien diameter wool.

The Wool and Skin

The fleeces of AMM sheep have high levels of wool fibre density and length. The close packing of the wool fibres on the sheep's body results in "fibre bundles" (below left) being formed in the fleece. Fibre bundles are very thin staples about the thickness of a matchstick. Each fibre bundle represents the cluster of wool fibres growing from a follicle group in the skin. The sheep's skin is thin and loose (below right).

The secret of combining a meat sheep with virtually no wool (below right) with a Merino lies in knowing how to manipulate the size and number of wool follicles in the sheeps skin.

These horizontal skin sections (60 x magnification) show that the density of wool follicles has been increased from a low density of 20 follicles per square millimetre in one of the foundation meat sires, a White Suffolk/White Dorper ram (above) to a high density ram of 66 follicles per square millimetre in the second cross to SRS(R) Merino sires (below).