The basis for Rose Ridge Wiltshire Horn & Wiltipoll Stud owned by Andrew & Marie Rosenzweig occurred in 1997. The idea to use the breed for commercial production came to us when we saw a documentary on the Wiltshire Horns on an episode of Land Line. The documentary highlighted the qualities of the breed and intrigued us because of the unique fact they were "wool-less" and they needed low husbandry requirements.

We rang the Wiltshire Horn Association. The Association informed us of Byarlea - A Wiltshire Horn Stud owned by our now good friends Brian and Jill Wilson of Crystal Brook South Australia. Brian and Jill have owned their stud since 1994. After visiting their farm in 1997 we were convinced that this breed had something special and a lot of potential for farmers who like the idea of efficiency when choosing a breed.

Our aim at that stage was just simply to breed the Wiltshire Horn because they had appealing qualities. From Byarlea in 1997 we purchased first cross Wiltshire Horn / Merino ewes and a pure Wiltshire Horn Ram. Satisfied with the sheep and impressed with the quality though only first cross, a commercial flock came to mind. We had decided on taking an old fashioned approach to convert back to a pure Wiltshire but the process would have taken far too long. In 1999 we decided to start Rose Ridge Wiltshire Horn Stud.

To increase the number of lambs and the number of ewes rather than buy a flock of stud ewes and a few stud rams we looked into the possibilities of an Embryo Transplant & Artificial Insemination Program. This allowed us to use the first cross ewes as surrogate mothers therefore giving us a larger stud in a lot less time. In October 1999 we purchased 3 stud ewes from Peter Shands Wanna Wiltshire Horn Stud. We then purchase semen from 2 rams from San Jolly's Wonoka Wiltshire Horn Stud.

Marie Rosenzweig watches as Brecon Breeders prepare to operate.	The operation on the first stud ewe.	Now to transplant into the surrogate mother and hope for the best.

In January 2000, Brecon Breeder's preformed the AI & ET program for us using eggs collected from the stud ewes and semen from the two rams that we purchased. After a series of injections given to prepare the stud ewes for Artificial Insemination and bring them into season, the stud ewes were then inseminated with the semen from the Stud rams. Embryo Transplant occurred 6 days later when the Stud ewes were brought back in for surgery removing the fertile embryos for transplanting into the surrogate mothers.

The end result - at 7 weeks old

In July 2000 our stud lambs were born as a result of the program. The program delivered us a young stud flock in 1 year far quicker than using the traditional methods of breeding. Our successes with the stud has made us think about producing what people want. The sheep breed had little flaws but as there is a market for both the Wiltshire Horn and the poll we decide that Rose Ridge would offer both. On the10th of February 2001, we purchased a Wiltipoll ram from Annie Hughes's Kars Station. With the idea to eventually produce a Wiltipoll stud from this ram this year.

The Wiltipoll's have participated in a number of shows and competitions and there is an ever-increasing demand for this Wool Shedding Prime Lamb Breed.

Andrew & Marie have decided to go Wiltipolls in 2003. Our flock is based on our high quality Wiltshire Horn ewes and Wiltipoll rams purchased from Kar's station by Annie Hughes.

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