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Viewbank Angora Stud calls it a day.

Viewbank Stud is on the market after 28 years of continuous breeding. Read more>>>>>>>

Australian Buck Trial 2010/2011 Results (Top 10 rankings)

Angora Does for sale...>>>

Viewbank visited by Buyers from Argentina .... read more..>>>

Viewbank participates in Mohair Australia's First Angora Buck Field Trial 2008/9 read more...>>>

Viewbank tops sale at Buck Trial NSW ....read more>>>i

Angora Bucks for Sale...>>>

Angora wethers for sale...>>>

Viewbank out & about...>>>>>

For Sale - 2011

2010 Drop Viewbank Selected Bucks: statistics & photos

We have selected just two young bucks from our 2010 drop as we lost many to foxes when they were very young. Mid side samples were collected on 5th Nov 2011 and results will be published shortly.


Viewbank 866 in 3rd fleece (Nov 2011) mfd = 27.0, sd = 7.17, cv=26.5	Viewbank 896 in 3rd fleece (Nov 2011) SOLD mfd=25.9, sd= 6.35, cv= 24.5

2009 Drop Viewbank Selected Bucks: statistics & photos

Now available for viewing in their 5th fleece. Contact us for an appointment. These animals are for private sale only.

ID	Sire	Dam	Status	2nd Fleece July 2010			Fleece test November 2010			Body size
	[V. = Viewbank]			FD 2nd	SD 2nd	CV 2nd	FD 3rd	SD 3rd	CV 3rd
VBK 860	V. Potosi	V. J35	at Lara Downs	23.9	5.92	24.77	23.2	5.2	22.41	large
VBK 867	V. Yarron	V. G08	sold	25.7	4.79	18.64	n/a	n/a	n/a	large
VBK 887	V. Potosi	V. H05	at Lara Downs	23.5	5.96	25.36	23.1	5.54	23.98	medium
VBK 897	V. Vermont	V. H07	at Lara Downs	25.6	5.65	22.07	25.3	6.6	26.09	large
VBK 898	V. Vermont	V. H20	Lara Downs	23.2	4.14	17.84	25.9	6.13	23.67	large
VBK 851	V. Yarron	V.H52	see our sires page	21.1	3.31	15.69	26.8	4.6	17.1	large
VBK 853	V. Yarron	V. G48.	sold	21.6	4.75	21.99	23.8	5.1	21.5	medium
VBK 893	V. Potosi	V. J27	sold	25.5	4.97	19.49	28.6	5.7	20.1	medium


Viewbank 898 at 2 years of age - Nov 2011. Retained in the stud for the 2011 season. (Yes he does have a nice tail but he was being shy and refused to put it up for his photo !) Very dense with a long staple. For Sale .	Viewbank 867 at 18 months (March 2011). SOLD

Viewbank 860 at 2 years of age - Nov 2011. For sale	Viewbank 887 at 2 years of age - Nov 2011. SOLD
Photos above were taken on 6 November 2011with animals in two months fleece. They are unprepared & straight from the paddock. Only home based bucks are included in the photos above. Photos of their Sires can be found further down this page.

Australian Buck Trial 2010/2011 Results

The 3rd Australian Angora Buck Trial concluded last weekend with the shearing of 3rd fleeces enabling organisers to collect the final sets of data (fleece weight and class/value) and determine the final rankings in terms of both the South African and Australian Fineness Indexes. Both indexes are designed to identify animals with finer than average fleeces and medium to high fleece and body weights, with the SAFI placing a little more emphasis on body weight than the AFI. However the final rankings indicate that both formulas are not very far apart in their selections, given that the two top ranked animals are the same on both indexes and further; that seven out the top ten ranked animals for the SAFI were also among the top 10 ranked animals in the AFI. (Bucks achieving a top 10 place in both indexes are colour coded).

The ALAMO/CUDAL Stud is to be congratulated on an outstanding performance in this years trial. It needs to be pointed out that this stud had many more animals in the trial than other studs, as well as being the host Stud, giving it every opportunity to outperform other studs. Nevertheless this does not take away from its actual achievements and is a clear demonstration of the effectiveness of using one or more indexes to select for animals with desirable objectively measureable characteristics. The fact that many of these top ranked bucks were sired by bucks with high rankings in the first trial two years ago, is significant; most notably VIEWBANK Imbulu, our home grown buck who has gone on to sire 6 of the top 10 ranked bucks in the current trial. We are thrilled by his consistent "true to type" breeding and superior progeny. Imbulu has also sired progeny here at Viewbank during 2010 and we look forward to observing their development.

Congratulations also to Victorian stud Coolbaroo and NSW stud Koorana for having two of their three entries in the top ten placings and to Koorana for achieving top price at the sale. Full data from the trial can be downloaded from the Mohair Australian web site.

South African Fineness Index				Australian Fineness Index
Ranking	Stud Entry ID	Sire Stud origin	Dam Stud origin	Ranking	Stud Entry ID	Sire Stud origin	Dam Stud origin
1	CUDAL 105	VIEWBANK	CUDAL	1	ALAMO 107	VIEWBANK	ALAMO
2	ALAMO 107	VIEWBANK	ALAMO	2	CUDAL 105	VIEWBANK	CUDAL
3	CUDAL 93	VIEWBANK	CUDAL	3	COOLBAROO 121	CUDAL	COOLBAROO
4	CUDAL 94	VIEWBANK	CUDAL	4	COOLBAROO 119	CUDAL	COOLBAROO
5	CUDAL 103	CUDAL	CUDAL	5	KOORANA 129	ANCOR	KOORANA
6	CUDAL 95	VIEWBANK	CUDAL	6	CUDAL 94	VIEWBANK	CUDAL
7	CUDAL 104	CUDAL	CUDAL	7	CUDAL 95	VIEWBANK	CUDAL
8	CUDAL 102	CUDAL	CUDAL	8	KOORANA 128	ANCOR	KOORANA
9	COOLBAROO 119	CUDAL	COOLBAROO	9	CUDAL 102	CUDAL	CUDAL
10	CUDAL 106	VIEWBANK	CUDAL	10	CUDAL 103	CUDAL	CUDAL

For more information about Viewbank Imbulu see the story from the 2009 Trial below.

NB: Unfortunately the 2011 Viewbank trial entry bucks failed to grow out during the trial period and as a result did not perform well on the Trial Indices. This may have been the result of a massive worm challenge which occurred on the Cudal property during the 2010 Spring Period, an event which effected many of the animals, not just our team. It is understood that many of the smaller animals in the 2011 trial will be retained on the property for observation during 2011 to monitor their growth rate over an extended period.

Viewbank Exports to Argentina:

In November 2008, Viewbank Stud was visited by a representative from the Agricultural Institute, Patagonia, Argentina, along with two Argentinian mohair growers who were seeking stud stock for the improvement of the local mohair industry in that country. Their specifications were for yearling stock of the highest quality. Their inspection of all our young animals was very thorough, with three young does and one young buck being selected for further consideration once their tour of other studs was complete. As we had only three young bucks for selection, we were very pleased that they felt able to select one of such a small offering. (Our other three young sires are not eligible for export due to their participation in the Buck Trial at Cudal).

Negotiations are now underway regarding final pricing and transportation to an Australian quarantine facility prior to being cleared for export to Argentina.

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Dr Doug Stapleton of Cudal Stud, buyer of Viewbank Imbulu, pictured post trial shearing. Doug also achieved the top ranked buck on the SAFI index.

Viewbank Buck tops the sale at the inaugural Buck Trial Jan 2009:

Viewbank's three entries in the Buck Trial at Cudal grew out extremely well in the lush Spring in that part of NSW. Viewbank Imbulu (VBK 712) was a well grown young buck on entry to the trial, but had reached an amazing 72 kgs by the trial's end.

With such amazing growth, it has been quite exciting to observe over repeated testing, that Imbulu has retained his fineness first observed in his second fleece (23.3 microns). This is most unusual for larger animals which tend to grow stronger fibre. At just 27.8 microns, measured in Jan 09, Imbulu is a stand out buck. He cut an impressive 4.0 kgs valued at $39.91 for six months growth. The average fleece value for all 44 trial animals was $32.

Imbulu achieved the 2nd highest score and ranking on the South African Fineness Index which rates animals on a combination of fleece weight, body weight and fibre diameter. He was beaten by only one point, by the top placed Cudal Stud entry . Imbulu later topped the sale at $2,000, following the conclusion of the trial.

Sale clearance rates were a disapppointing 23% but it is hoped that as the industry gains more confidence in this very different (and thorough) form of buck assessment, that more mohair producers will come to use and indeed rely on this form of assessment for their buck selection as is now the case in South Africa, the world leader in mohair production.

Full measurements for all trial bucks can be found on Mohair Australia's web site . (See photo at left).

Buck Trial 2009/2010

Unfortunately Viewbank was unable to participate in the 2009/2010 buck trial at Cudal, but we wish to congratulate those who were brave enough to submit their bucks for testing and particulary to those whose animals scored well on the trials' objective criteria. Cudal stud again took top line honours with Cudal Neddie 46 (sired by Mallee Park Ned, a sire jointly owned by Viewbank and Cudal studs), based on the South African Fineness Index. Sharing honours was Coolbaroo stud from Victoria which entered the buck with the highest Australian Buck Trial index.