Rosewood Poll Dorset Stud

About Us

Rosewood Poll Dorset Stud is owned by David and Elaine Sainsbury and is located on the Dalton Road near Rye Park NSW, 32km north of Yass and 29km east of Boorowa. It was founded in 2005 with the main breeding objective of producing rams that will sire lambs that are fast growing, structurally correct, well-muscled sheep with well developed loin and hind quarters and with smoothness through the shoulders for easier lambing. Rosewood is only stocked with poll dorset sheep, no other stock are run on the property. David has recently ‘retired’ to focus on managing and developing the stud and property.

Conservation of Resources
A priority at Rosewood is the conservation of resources using evidence-based best practice principles in the management of sheep and the care of the land. Over the years many structural improvements have been required on the property. This has included:

  • Replacement or reinforcement of most of the internal and external fencing as dorsets are much tougher on fences than merinos.

  • Big paddocks have been split into smaller ones to improve pasture management. When the 245ha property was purchase in 1995 there were 6 paddocks. There are now 23. This controls stock movement to allow better rotational grazing practices by spelling paddocks to encourage seeding of native and perennial pastures and to allow the paddock to recover. It also encourages stock to control weeds by not selectively grazing. Rosewood has not required ‘super-ing’ since 2003.

  • Laneways have been constructed to make movement of the sheep around the property less stressful for the sheep and their owners. There is minimal use of a dog for mustering sheep and it is never used in the yards.

  • Extensive treelines have been planted to provide shade and shelter for the sheep and to improve biodiversity of the native fauna. There are now over 60 different bird species regularly spotted on Rosewood. Treelines also reduce moisture evaporation from the soil and prevent wind erosion.

  • A tank-and-troughs system is used in many paddocks on Rosewood instead of dams to reduce water loss by evaporation and to provide better water quality for stock by reducing stagnation. Water for stock is pumped to one central tank and then reticulates to the troughs using valves and floats. 12 paddocks and the sheepyards are watered using this system. This also helps to reduce our power use and electricity bill as the pump is only used to fill the tank every week or two

    • Conservation of the Land and Native Fauna
  • At Rosewood we have often worked with other Landcare members, Greening Australia and Greengrid to rehabilitate salt-scald areas, protect the creeks and reduce bank erosion by fencing off areas and revegetating, and the linking of stands of remnant vegetation.

  • Also endangered native fish species have been released on the property and, in the last survey undertaken by the Department of Fisheries, are establishing themselves well.

    • Measuring Improvement
  • As well as the ways we assess how well our sheep are developing as identified in the Breeding Objectives page, we also believe that the best way to judge the quality of our sheep is to put them up against other poll dorset breeders’ stock at shows. To this end we ‘show’ our sheep at local shows but also at statewide shows such as Gundagai and the NSW Dorset Championship at Cowra. We are pleased with the success we have had at these shows against some of the best studs in NSW

    • Towards the Future
  • As a major part of the development of infrastructure we have ourselves constructed 3 large stock and machinery sheds in the last 10 years. The latest is our stud and auction shed which was completed just in time for our first on-property sale in October 2013. We had a complete clearance of the rams on offer. The stud‘s annual on-property sales will be held on the Tuesday after the long weekend in October. Inspection of our sale rams by interested lamb breeders prior to sale day is very welcome.

  • Our main aim for the future is to gain the knowledge and resources to continue producing consistently high quality stock in the most economic way.