of his clients, who were fleece weighing, to
let him purchase these sheep and these were
then mated to the stud’s highest cutting
AAAM type wool rams.
The results from this mating in 1970 were
very encouraging with some of the progeny
cutting more wool than his normal stud
ewes. In the 1970s, he fired the enthusiasm
of more than 1000 WA and interstate
farmers to join him and form a loose
cooperative breeding organisation, AMS.
Members of the AMS began measuring the
fleeces for the first time and contributed
animals to the overall breeding program,
which was by far the biggest in Australia.
During 1971 and 1972, Jim travelled
extensively throughout WA talking to farm
groups, explaining the benefits of fleece
weighing, offering to help interested farmers
with their weighing during shearing and
encouraging them to become members of
AMS. This saw AMS continue to expand
over the next 10 years and at its peak it had
more than 1300 members together with two
million ewes in their combined flocks.
Due to his scientific training, Jim developed
and implemented novel changes to all the
possible ways to measure and improve
the flock, with the aim to grow finer and
more valuable wool. He wanted to find a
sheep big enough to carry the weight of
extra wool being generated by the fleece
weighing technique. He began body
weighing the hogget sheep. The results
from this selective breeding program took
the society’s lambing percentage from about
75 per cent, to almost 120 per cent over
Jim Shepherd (seated at the centre) during his school days with the 1946 Shooting Team
that won the Commonwealth Challenge Cup.
the years, a huge financial gain. At the time,
the concept flew in the face of tradition
but his motivation was based on a belief in
what he was doing and not on monetary
gain. Jim encouraged the society with
experience gained from running the central
breeding flock, to form 150 ram breeding
co-operatives (i.e. daughter studs, with each
group having five to 30 farmer members)
located in South Australia, Victoria, New
South Wales and Queensland. His work
attracted the attention of two American
scientists, Art Pope and Clair Terrill, who
visited Mulureen and were very enthusiastic
about his efforts. South African Cameron
McMaster modelled the Dohne Merino
Reunions & Events 2014
Constitution upon that of the AMS.
By the 1990s, the concepts of measurement
and scientific breeding that he pioneered
were taken up widely by many sheep
breeders outside the AMS. This encouraged
geneticists and other scientists to provide
more extensive services to the breeding
industry. His work for the industry was
recognised in 1987 when he was appointed
an Officer of the Order of Australia for
service to primary industry, particularly to
the wool and sheep meat industries, and in
2006 when he was inducted into the Royal
Agricultural Society Agricultural Hall of Fame.
Article courtesy of Farm Weekly, Perth.
Help us to organise your reunion –
contact [email protected] or (+61 8) 9377 8522.
Saturday 12 July
Singapore Reunion Dinner and Performance (see reunion advertisement
for connected events)
Grand Copthorne Waterfront
Hotel
Saturday 6 September
Melbourne Reunion
Venue to be confirmed
Sunday 21 September
Car Rally
Foundation Pavilion, School
Saturday 4 October
Annual Dinner
Dining Hall, School
Saturday 4 October
Reunion for Classes of 1964, 1974, 1984 (At Annual Dinner)
Dining Hall, School
Wednesday 15 October
AGM
Foundation Pavilion, School
Saturday 15 November
South West