Sheep

The key products of the Western Australian sheep industry are wool, sheepmeat (lamb and mutton) and live sheep. At around 12.4 million sheep, the WA flock turns off between 4.5 and 6 million sheep and lambs for meat and live export as well as 65 million kilograms of greasy wool (primarily for export markets) annually.

The Merino is the most common breed of sheep in WA, making up 80% of the state's flock. The remainder are ‘British breeds’ or so-called maternal breeds, meat specific breeds such as Dorpers and some breeds for specialty meat and fibre markets.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development's current focus is on increasing lamb supply, improving the productivity, welfare and sustainability of sheep production and developing and extending targeted information products and services to generate practice change. In an effort to increase the marking rate of lambs, the department, in collaboration with industry, has developed the More Sheep initiative.

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Articles

  • Itch mite as seen under a microscope, from skin scraping.

    Itch mite in sheep

    5 December 2013

    Itch mites are small, barely visible parasites of sheep; they live on the skin surface and cause rubbing and fleece chewing in a small proportion of infested animals.

  • FOO too low and patchy for safe grazing

    Deferred grazing and sheep at the break of season in South West Western Australia

    26 November 2013

    Grazing annual pastures in the first 12 days after germination can lower the productivity of pastures during winter by removing poorly rooted plants, and by reducing plant leaf area to sub-optimal

  • Dr Kristine Rayner with cattle

    SMS livestock surveillance networks

    17 September 2018

    Cattle producers in the shires of Albany, Denmark and Plantagenet in Western Australia and sheep producers in the shires of Esperance and Ravensthorpe are invited to participate in local surveillan

  • Early vegetative pastures show branching and thickening and are of very high quality and digestibility

    Grazing annual pastures – using feed on offer (FOO) as a guide

    22 November 2013

    Grazing management in winter and spring in South West Western Australia (SW WA) can manipulate the quality, quantity and composition of pasture.

  • A white dorper ram in good condition and ready for mating.

    Joining – setting the potential of your ewe flock

    15 November 2013

    Joining is the time when the potential lambing of your flock is set, so make the most of it.

  • Weighing sheep

    Breeding ewes are worth feeding

    3 December 2019

    Despite potentially elevated grain prices, strong prices for meat and wool mean that Western Australian sheep farmers can confidently supplementary feed their underweight ewes this summer/autumn.

  • decorative

    Feed tests are vital for feed budgeting

    21 October 2019

    A little knowledge of the nutritional value of your supplementary feeds can save you a lot of money and hassle. In dry seasons in particular, it is likely that farmers will need to start supplement

  • Cattle standing in grass looking at camera

    Animal welfare codes of practice

    23 April 2014

    Codes of practice for animal welfare have provided useful guidance about the management and care of animals, mainly livestock.

  • weaner sheep

    Reproduction potential and marking rates of the WA sheep flock

    2 May 2019

    Reproduction rates (foetuses per ewe joined) across the WA flock vary hugely and  depend on seasonal conditions and nutrition.  Marking rates in 2017 across the agricultural region for Merinos was

  • Sheep Live Export

    18 July 2018

    The live export trade of sheep from Western Australia is worth $136 million (2019). The industry is undergoing significant change and industry and government are working cooperatively to improve tr

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