The White Suffolk is a modern Australian breed of domestic sheep. It was bred from 1977 to have the meat-producing qualities of the Suffolk, but without the typical black markings.
History
The White Suffolk was bred by Ewan Roberts, of the University of New South Wales, from 1977. His intention was to create a sheep that had the large size, high ewe fecundity and rapid growth rate of the original British Suffolk, but without the black face and legs and without the occasional dark fibres in the wool which greatly reduced its value in the Australian market. He crossed the Suffolk with the Polled Dorset, and later with the Border Leicester. From the third generation he selectively bred for high growth rate and for the absence of black fibres on the points and in the fleece. A breed society, the Australian White Suffolk Society, was formed in 1985..
A total population of approximately was reported to DAD-IS for 1992, and in 2007 the conservation status of the breed was listed as 'not at risk'.
References Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. . Archived 23 June 2020.
Valerie Porter, Lawrence Alderson, Stephen J.G. Hall, D. Phillip Sponenberg (2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding (sixth edition). Wallingford: CABI. .
David Cottle (2010). International Sheep and Wool Handbook. Nottingham: Nottingham University Press. .
Breed data sheet: White Suffolk / Australia (Sheep). Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed March 2024.
White Suffolk sheep. Farm Diversification Information Service, Department of Primary Industries, State of Victoria. Archived 6 September 2006.