Livestock Breeding Services’, John Hall of Yass, carried out the inseminations on April 3 using semen donated by ‘Jarrobay White Suffolk Stud’ owned by Barry and Jarrod Alcorn. The semen was collected from their very successful ram, Jarrobay 0567, which was Champion White Suffolk ram at the 2008 Canberra and Sydney Royal Shows. Barry and Jarrod have sold a half share in the ram for $10,000, but retain him on their stud.

John Hall carried out the inseminations on April 3 this year after the students were involved in the synchronization and preparation of the ewes for the procedure. Students got a chance to observe and participate in the AI process, getting to look into the ewes via the laproscope and to observe semen motility under the microscope.

On August 25 the first of our lambs from the program arrived. The ewes were all penned individually in the olive grove at the school and as each ewe lambed the lambs were weighed and tagged. So far the lambing percentage is 200 per cent, with equal numbers of male and female lambs.

Year 9/10 Agriculture are looking after the sheep program and have been integrating the theory behind artificial breeding systems into practical flock management. Having lambs born close together will improve the accuracy of selecting the new lambs for use in breeding for future years, sale to commercial flocks or as carcasses to the trade.

Yass High School would like to thank Matt Doyle for lending us the portable yards that we are using at the moment.