“We have a big responsibility to produce a shedding sheep that strips out as many costs of production as possible, to ensure the viability of lamb production in Australia. It is increasingly vital to breed a tough, 100% shedding animal which thrives in low rainfall country but copes equally well in wet, cold conditions. “Neil Garnett has spent the past 30 years breeding the wool off sheep in the quest for a highly fertile, easy care, functional animal for which food, not fibre, is the focus, culminating in the launch of his SheepMaster breed in 2017. SheepMaster does not believe in pedigrees or breed societies, the focus is on type and quality. In our opinion, rules can retard initiative. Our visual scoring system, along with genomic data and ASBVs, ensures quality control on all ram breeding ewes, without discouraging new ideas and the need for regional variation. This is a very different approach to many other shedding sheep breeds. We must strive to constantly improve the quality of our line. We believe that this is best achieved with open communication, co-operation and exchange of ideas with our breeders. Breeding animals must be a constantly evolving process which meets market demand with maximum productivity.