One man who arguably changed an industry

Zero Commission Livestock Selling - Agents and Private sellers, you can now sell your Livestock for free on Farm Tender. Check out how it works here.

To receive this newsletter in your inbox each day, just register with Farm Tender here.

By Dwain Duxson

One man who arguably changed an industry - Who was Dr Jim Watt's? Jim was a scientist who graduated from Sydney Uni and somehow entered the Sheep and Wool industry introducing the controversial SRS (Soft Rolling Skin) breeding system to Sheep breeders.

He was a scientist by trade and by nature, and the microscope wasn't too far away as he travelled from Farm to Farm, testing and selecting Sheep that fitted his ethos. But he could also sell. He sold the SRS system to a large group of stud and commercial breeders, and with it, divided an industry.

The type of Merino's he advocated were plain bodied, with a thin, soft, wrinkle-free skin and with Wool that had uniform deep crimp and tested for a high secondary to primary follicle ratio.

Our Family had a bit to do with Jim for a decade or so. He loved the industry. He loved the Woollen fibre and Merino Sheep, and he enjoyed a red wine or two at the end of a long day's classing. He was a determined type, sometimes stubborn, and not many know that he was a successful 1st-grade batsman in Sydney back in the Jeff Thomson and Len Pascoe days. His biggest legacy was that he changed the look of Merino Sheep from a wrinkly inefficient, high-cost-to-run Animal into the plain-bodied, dual-purpose, more fecund Merino that we see today. He left his mark on an industry where controversy is never too far away. He was a maverick, an innovator and advocated change for an industry that was staid. After a long battle with illness, Jim died in 2019, aged 69.

End of message