The Rouseabout, the MOAT & the Gazelles

Sherana was the name Viv and Judy Forbes gave to their property at Rosevale, south-west of Ipswich, Queensland. The name came from El Sherana, a remote mining settlement in the Northern Territory where Viv and Judy had lived shortly after the birth of their first child. Viv was working there as a geologist, and during the wet season the settlement could be cut off for weeks. The name stayed with them and was eventually given to the property that became home to their Damara flock.

Viv Forbes grew up on a dairy farm near Warwick and later became a geologist, working with the Queensland Geological Survey Office before moving into exploration, mining and investment. He was involved in the development of the Burton Coal Mine, which opened in 1995. Judy came from a long-established grazing background around Mackay and Nebo and had grown up on the large Hereford property Waitara. Together they made an unusual but complementary partnership. Viv described himself as the Rouseabout, while Judy became the “Mother-of-All-Things”, or MOAT, the person who noticed what needed doing and usually made sure it was done.

In 1990, after their children had left school, Viv and Judy bought about 300 acres of rolling basalt and sandstone country at Rosevale. They named it Sherana and began with Braford cattle, using cell-grazing principles influenced by André Voisin, Alan Savory and Joel Salatin. The property was eventually expanded to about 700 acres. Sheep were not initially part of the plan.

Both had previous experience of Merino sheep, but neither had been impressed by them. Viv remembered managing a small Merino flock in the 1950s and disliked the handling, shearing and management they required. Judy had also seen Merinos surviving for years on a remote cattle property without regular mustering or conventional management. Those animals had survived in difficult country and had clearly carried valuable genetics, but it was only later that she appreciated what she had seen.

The turning point came when an ABC program introduced them to the Damara. The breed immediately appealed because it had no wool and therefore required no shearing, crutching or tail docking, while its natural flocking instinct, hardiness and ability to raise lambs without assistance suited the sort of low-maintenance sheep they were looking for.

They travelled to Western Australia and visited John Hall of Hall Damara at Narembeen. Hall was involved in one of the largest Damara operations in Australia and had obtained original stock from South Africa. He was using Damara embryos extensively, implanting them into Merino ewes. Viv and Judy arranged to bring purebred Damara genetics back to Queensland, including five purebred ewes and a large number of embryos.

Sherana became Queensland Flock No. 0014. In April 1999, the first consignment arrived: Merino ewes carrying Damara-cross lambs, together with a purebred Damara ram named Waverly. The embryo program later produced coloured Damara lambs, including the first lamb Judy named Jigsaw because of its patchwork markings.

The early years were difficult. The Merino recipient ewes brought problems with blowfly, eye blight, spear grass, poor mothering and lamb survival. Some rejected lambs, while others struggled with the demands of raising them. The experience reinforced the difference between a Damara and a Merino production system. The F1 crossbreds were already more alert, agile and hardy, flocked better and made better mothers, although they still carried wool. As the generations progressed, the amount of Merino wool decreased.

There were also lessons in managing the Damara itself. Waverly initially showed little interest in the purebred Damara ewes after working with the Merino ewes. This led to the practical rule that a Damara ram should first be introduced to Damara ewes before crossbred ewes are added. Dorpers were also introduced at Sherana. Viv liked their appearance and their ability to fatten, but their habit of running fences led Judy to describe the difference neatly: “Damaras are the gazelles of the sheep world. Dorpers are the Hippos.”

Judy developed a detailed identification and recording system. Crossbred animals were earmarked according to generation, with different triangular notches identifying F1 through F4 animals, while Full Blood animals had their own identification. Every sheep carried tags in both ears, and Judy kept detailed records of parentage, colour, markings and other identifying features. Even buyers of crossbred animals received printed pedigrees. Sherana itself was never formally registered with the Society because Judy believed her own records were more accurate.

Selection was based heavily on temperament and practical characteristics. White hooves were marked down because they tended to require more trimming, while pink noses were not preferred. Rams were expected to have strong, even horns, and ewes were selected for a soft, feminine appearance. Judy also relied heavily on instinct and her ability to recognise the animals she believed would contribute to the flock.

Over approximately twenty years, the Forbes’ built a genetically diverse purebred flock from a wide range of sources. They acquired animals from the Te Kloot family near Longreach, including the “TeeKay girls”, obtained genetics from an isolated New South Wales flock, and rescued breeding ewes from a drought-affected sale. These additions, together with the original embryo genetics and selected rams and ewes, gave Sherana a broad genetic base.

Not every experiment succeeded. An attempt to use copper sulphate as a worm treatment resulted in the deaths of six rams after an incorrect dose. The experience became one of the most important lessons from Sherana: “Food, medicine or poison, it depends on the dose, and the patient.” Other stories from the property showed the close involvement Judy had with individual animals. Ebony, Cindy, Celia, Leopard, Bendigo and Jake each became memorable animals for different reasons, whether through exceptional breeding records, show success, intelligence, temperament or the circumstances in which they had been raised.

The Sherana newsletters combined sheep management with observations of nature, politics and humour. The stories of individual animals gave the flock a personality of its own. Ebony, for example, was bottle-raised after her mother died and became an exceptionally productive ewe. Celia produced thirteen live lambs by 2011, while Leopard became a highly successful ram with 367 lambs recorded by the age of nine. Bendigo repeatedly returned willingly to the sheep after being transported to shows, while Jake became so strongly associated with Judy that prospective buyers needed more than the usual references before she was willing to part with him.

Sherana also became part of the wider development of the Australian Damara industry. The early economics were based on the belief that Damara genetics could produce commercially useful sheep while reducing some of the costs associated with conventional wool breeds. The market went through periods of strong demand, including interest from the Middle East and from buyers across Australia. Changing transport regulations, the broader sheep-meat market and the collapse of larger integrated enterprises affected the industry, but interest in Damaras continued.

Correspondence with South African breeder Dawie du Toit broadened Viv and Judy’s understanding of the breed’s history. Du Toit’s work on the Damara and its development in southern Africa reinforced the idea that the breed’s characteristics had been shaped over generations by natural selection in harsh environments. This historical perspective helped explain why the Damara possessed the qualities that had attracted the Forbes’ in the first place.

One of the most remarkable developments came in 2013 with the “Ice Babies”. John and Mary Te Kloot had frozen Damara embryos that had been stored in liquid nitrogen for thirteen years. The embryos represented valuable South African genetics that could not simply be replaced because of Australia’s restrictions on the importation of live sheep. Fifty recipient ewes were implanted, and 32 pregnancies resulted. Forty-nine lambs were born, including sixteen sets of twins, with 44 surviving to weaning. The embryos had successfully preserved their genetics for more than a decade.

The Sherana animals travelled well beyond Queensland. Young rams were flown to Darwin, while other animals travelled north by road. The flock supplied genetics to breeders across Australia and became part of the wider spread of the Damara into different Australian environments.

By 2017, after almost three decades at Sherana, Viv and Judy decided it was time to move to a smaller property. Neither had wanted to be the first to raise the subject, but once Viv suggested selling, Judy immediately agreed. They moved to Hilltop, a 40-acre property closer to Brisbane, taking a carefully selected group of about eighty sheep with them. The remaining flock was eventually dispersed, with some animals going to a long-standing New South Wales connection who had used Sherana genetics for around twenty years.

Sherana did not formally “close”. There was simply a point at which there were no more sheep on the property. Viv and Judy were later made Life Members of the Damara Sheep Breeders’ Society of Australia.

The legacy of Sherana lies in more than the property or the number of sheep that passed through it. Viv and Judy demonstrated that Damara sheep could thrive under a wide range of Australian conditions and that careful selection, detailed records and a willingness to experiment could build a strong and genetically diverse flock. The genetics they assembled — including the Ice Babies, the TeeKay girls, animals from closed herds, drought rescues and carefully selected breeding stock — continued into other Australian flocks.

Viv Forbes died on 15 November 2025, aged 86. He had been a geologist, coal man, grazier, writer and commentator, but at Sherana he was also the Rouseabout who helped build something that outlasted the property itself. Judy remains an important figure in the history of the Australian Damara.

What Viv and Judy built at Sherana was ultimately less about one property than about establishing the Damara as a breed capable of finding a permanent place in Australian agriculture. The sheep they bred, selected and dispersed became part of the foundation on which later breeders could build. Their work helped carry the breed from its earlier origins into another generation of Australian flocks.