Uardry Dohne

Uardry Dohne

After travelling to South Africa in 2000 to research the Dohne Merino, which is run in areas of similar climate and topography to the Riverina, it was found that the Dohne Merino is a highly fertile, plain bodied and well structured, poll sheep, which does not graze selectively and produces good quality medium merino wool, of 19 to 23 microns. The sheep have been bred and classified for many years according to strict performance guidelines set by the South African Dohne Society.

At Uardry we anticipated that the long-term success of the Dohne breed in Australia is reliant upon providing a diverse and wide gene pool. We enlisted the expertise of Henri Londt, the general manager of the South African Dohne Breed Society, from the outset to purposely source South African genetics that had not previously been imported into Australia. This is our prime objective wherever possible with each new consignment of imported embryos.

This is the foundation of the Uardry Dohne stud. Our breeding philosophy is to provide genetics from a diverse background that conforms to the rigorous Dohne standard, with emphasis placed on good structure, pasterns and top line. We also use Australian bred rams as link sires.

Dohne Merinos were introduced into Western Australia in 1998, and into the eastern states the following year in 1999. The Australian Dohne Association has been established to oversee the adherence of strict breeding and performance as required to meet Australian standards for both meat and wool quality.