Awassi Sheep Sydney

Breeding and supplying Awassi fat-tail sheep

For more than a century, Australia’s history with sheep has been based on English breeds that colonists brought with them and the Spanish Merino which John Macarthur had imported from South Africa in 1796. For many decades these breeds remained the status quo and there was little interest in importing new breeds.

For all this time the incredible variety of sheep genetics available in Africa and the Middle East was basically ignored.

A search for new and valuable genetics has led us to the Middle East where ancient breeds have been part of the farming scene for many centuries.

These breeds are usually hardy due to the semi arid and desert conditions in many parts of the region from which they come. The sheep there have been more closely domesticated into family and community life than they were in Europe or Britain and sheepwere a source of milk to a much greater extent. Specific types of sheep became culinary delights in the Middle East, notably the breeds with fat tails.

At the same time, significant Middle East migration to Australia has meant that there is now a whole segment of people pre-wired to the taste and flavor of fat tailed sheep.

The result of all these factors has been a boom of new sheep breeds in Australia. Mostly they have come from Africa and the Middle East. There is also a renewed enthusiasm for combining these breeds in new composites which bring out the best traits of the individual breeds. The Awassi breed is one of these new and ‘exotic’ breeds.

We are committed to breeding Awassi sheep and promoting the numerous benefits it presents Australian farmers and sheep producers as an alternative sheep breed and a profitable farming enterprise.

In addition to maintaining pure Awassi blood lines for superior milking and dairy purposes, we are also using the Awassi to cross breed with other exotic fat-tail breeds in Australia (to include Van Rooys, Afrikaner and Damara breeds) with the aim of developing a dual purpose quality fat-tail sheep that is hardy and suitable for both meat production and dairy purposes.