Karioi White Suffolk was started in Victoria, Australia, in 1987 when Malcolm Udy became one of 40 foundation members of Prime Lamb Genetics Ltd. PLG was formed to purchase the entire 500-strong White Suffolk flock developed by the University of New South Wales over the previous nine years. For the following 16 years PLG sires and semen were used exclusively by Karioi.
Karioi began performance recording with Lambplan (the Australian equivalent to SIL) in 1990 and the Karioi stud first registered with the Australian White Suffolk Association (AWSA) in 1994 as flock #262. Ownership of the Karioi flock transferred to Malcolm’s son Steve in 2002.
Karioi’s highest ranked sire (“Kapua”, ID#091905, top 10% of all terminal sires on Lambplan) was imported to New Zealand in 2011 and in 2012 mated across Perendale ewes sourced from Mount Guardian stud in North Canterbury.
In 2014 two more rams (ID#121051 and #121057) and 24 ewes from the Karioi flock in Australia were imported to establish the Karioi White Suffolk flock at Stanley Brook in the Motueka Valley near Nelson. Karioi is the first, and currently only, White Suffolk stud flock in New Zealand. Further genetics will be sourced from Australia as needed.
The Karioi flock currently numbers over 50 ewes including around 15 White Suffolk/Perendale cross ewes (mostly F2 with the first F3 lambs born 2016).