Border Leicester
The Border Leicester came to Australia in 1871 from Britain. It is large framed, polled, Roman nosed, fertile and produces
a long, coarse fleece with an average fibre diameter of 32 to 38 microns.
Its value has been in its ability to mate with the Merino ewe to produce a firstcross ewe that exhibits all the classic advantages of hybrid vigour. First-cross wethers are usually slaughtered for either the local or the Middle East trades.
Specialised sheep breeders produce these hybrid ewe lambs in large numbers to on sell to other specialised prime lamb breeders.
The crossbred ewe, when mated to a meaty terminal sire of a third breed, produces a high percentage of strong, fast growing lambs for the large lean lamb meat trade. It is an excellent milker and is renowned for the way it mothers and protects its lambs. This first-cross Border Leicester/Merino ewe is crossed with one of a number of terminal breeds, but more usually with a Poll Dorset ram, to create the ideal crossbred meat lamb.
The Border Leicester Merino crossbred ewe has been exported in large numbers to Central America and the Balkans, as well as the Middle East where its excellent mothering ability has off-set the poor mothering potential of the Arabian fat tail sheep in local commercial crossbreeding ventures.
Further information is available from:
The Australian Border Leicester
Association
’Cal Col’
Deniliquin NSW 2710
www.assba.com.au
