Wiltipoll Sheep

Wiltipoll sheep are an easy care low maintenance, low cost prime meat sheep breed. They shed their wool annually each year in spring, therefore requiring minimal care & maintenance. There is no need for shearing, crutching or mulesing and tail docking is purely optional. Wiltipolls are lice and flystrike resistant therefore reducing the need for chemicals or painful animal husbandry practices usually associated with wool breeds and are ideal for producing organic lamb. Their skin is considerably thicker which helps to reduce problems caused to carcasses from grass seeds.

They have the ability to thrive in a variety ofconditions and are great in all climates but especially so in the wet areas of Victoria. They are bred from the Wiltshire Horn which is a British Shedding Sheep which is a very hardy, adaptable sheep. Wiltipoll sheep are able to produce heavy lambs without laying down fat and therefore have high dressing percentages of well muscled, very lean, exceptionally tasty meat.

Maternal Qualities

With Wiltipolls high lambing percentages (consistently averaging 140 -180%) and extraordinary maternal qualities, it means you can have less ewes to manage and feed, with more prime lamb to sell.  Wiltipolls are known for their multiple births, often resulting in twins & some having triplets and quads which they easily manage due their abundance of milk and fantastic mothering ability. Most ewes can be joined as early as 7mths old if they have reached a minimum of 50kg but success will depend on nutrition and conditions.

Market for Wiltipoll Sheep

There is a real strong demand and market for Wiltipoll Sheep as it is not hard to convince people to run low maintenance, low cost livestock with great returns. More & more farmers are changing their flocks over to Wiltipoll sheep, especially giving the older farmer the opportunity to stay farming without the workload normally associated with the wool breeds.

Uses for Wiltipoll Sheep

Whilst a great commercial option on a large scale, small acreage holders are also opting for the fully self shedding Wiltipoll sheep as they often find it difficult to get shearers to their properties to shear small numbers of sheep and they usually don't have the facilities or equipment required to maintain and care for the wool breeds of sheep or cattle.

Wiltipoll Sheep can also be used in a variety of organic situations. For example, organic wine producers often use sheep to maintain the grass in between the vineyards. Wiltipoll sheep are ideal in this situation as the wool that falls to the ground, is full of nutrients which is a great soil conditioner along with the sheep droppings.

The use of Wiltipoll sheep in blue gum plantations is also advantageous, as they can roam relatively care free amongst the trees without having to be constantly rounded up and brought in to yards for shearing, crutching, mulesing or backlining.

Sheep dairies could also gain considerably by using Wiltipolls, due to their naturally bare breach and under belly. They can then concentrate on milk production and equipment without needing the facilities required for the wool breeds as well. The ewes have an abundance of milk and can be milked for many months.

Please feel free to contact us at anytime if you want any information or to discuss Bingara Wiltipoll Sheep.

Maria & Phil van Wegen