Valais Blacknose Australia Registry

The ultimate goal of any registry is to record the true parentage of animals, the heritage of individual animals and the integrity of the breed as a whole. As such we believe that DNA technology is an essential requirement of registration, ensuring the accurate recording of Valais Blacknose ancestry.

The registry consists of 2 separate entities. Both require DNA verification of parentage which is included in the registration certificate application. All registered animals have a registration name, number and certificate recording their parentage and exact breed composition.

Purebred Registry - consisting of animals originating from imported purebred embryos and bred using only semen from purebred Valais Rams. Please see below for information on the breed standard for Purebred animals.

Grade Registry - consisting of animals produced by crossing Purebred Valais semen with another breed. Please see the Grade Registry page for more information on the grade breeding program.

The Breed Standard below has been translated from the original breed standards (German language) as well as information from the UK standard.

The characteristics of the Valais Blacknose Sheep fall into three areas:

1. General Appearance

2. Conformation

3. Wool

1. GENERAL APPEARANCE

Markings -Black nose to centre of the head-Black encompassing the eye area connecting with the black of the nose, no gap is permitted.-Black ears- black should meet the white of the head.-Black hooves and ankle area- black socks.-Even Black spots on knees and hocks – this can be nonsymmetrical and can be very small.-females should have a black tail spot. This spot should be interrupted with a finger width of white on the tail-females missing a marking feature (ie a knee spot) may have a point deduction depending on overall conformation and wool-males must not have a tail spot.-scrotum may be black, but the black must not spread upward into the belly area and fleece

Spitti -Occasionally purebred Valais Blacknose may produce offspring that are marked in reverse pattern and this is referred to as ‘Spitti’. Spitti rams should be castrated and not used for breeding. Other colour patterns are mismarked.

Head and Neck -short, compact, well proportioned head, with medium length ears.-wide mouth, broad forehead, concave nose.-Pronounced, regal head shape in in rams. Mature rams often develop protuberances behind horn base-short, straight, well muscled neck

Horns- males and females-Spiral outward from head, horizontally. Well set off from cheeks (you should always be able to fit a flat hand comfortably between the horn and the cheek -black stripes in the horns are acceptable

Chest, Shoulder and Withers-broad, deep chest Shoulders line naturally with neck and chest -well spaced, broad withers-rib curvature is well proportioned and rounded.Back and Loin-long straight top line-wide back and well muscled loin

Pelvis, abdomen and hindquarters-Medium sized belly with small belly hollows (paralumbar fossa)-wide and medium length pelvis-well muscled hindquarters

Height at wither (over two years)-female 72-78 cm-male 75-83 cm Weight (over 2 years) -female 70-90 kg-male 80-125 kg

2. CONFORMATION

Limbs -strong, well placed, and well woolled -solid strong hooves-straight legs -not bow legged, not knock-kneed/cow-hocked-slight hock angulation -short strong pasterns-solid bone structure-joints straight and sound

Gait-spacious, surefooted, straight and wide legged-doesn’t sway or waver-even and stable movement-mobile with ease

3. WOOL

fleece in lambs is soft to the touch and becomes coarser as the sheep matures. The swiss measurement for fineness of 5-4 equates to approximately 28-38 micron depending on age and gender with finest wool in lambs and coarsest wool in adult males.-staple length is 10cm based on 6 months growth and is the minimum length required for showing.

Fleece weight when shorn- lambs 1-1.5kg, ewes and rams 2.5-3kg- based on twice yearly shearing with 6 months growth.-fleece is uniformly white and evenly distributed over the whole body including head and legs-in females only some black hairs are tolerated on the neck area. In males up to 18 months of age this is a reason for exclusion/castrating.

UNDESIRABLE TRAITS, REASON FOR CASTRATION/EXCLUSION OF RAMS

Undesirable Anatomy -uneven jaw length- undershot/overshot, incisor teeth not in contact or correct position relative to dental pad.-weak and or fallen pasterns-stunted growth/small in stature-undescended or missing testicle(s)-scrotal hernia

Undesirable Markings-Black spots on body- above the belly line- especially in males-Black tail spots (in rams)-Markings missing from knees, hocks or head

Undesirable Wool-Major flaw in the wool examples below-Kemp fibres - short Medullated (hollow) fibres with pointed tips. These fibres are coarse, brittle, weak and prickly and do not take up dye. -Tender fibres - break easily and may occur due to malnutrition, disease or scarring.-Excessive number of guard hairs – long, coarse, stiff, outer coat hair.- mixed coloured wool in rams under 18 months of age.

The breed standard applies to purebred and Australia class (F5)F1-F4 may not fully fit the descriptions but should be structurally sound with higher grades conforming more closely with the standard.