Welcome to 'Illawong' Texel Lamb

Illawong is situated at Parawa on the Fleurieu Peninsula, 100km south of Adelaide and 30km west of Victor Harbor along the Range road to Cape Jervis.

We are 340m above sea level and 4km inland. The property covers 1600 acres and carries 3500 sheep consistently.

Our sheep are relatively low maintenance and our aim is to produce the best prime lamb with the highest meat yield possible. To achieve this we are using the European breed, Texel, which is the most popular sire for producing market lambs in Europe. Texel is now the most expensive sheep in the world, with a ram making $666,000 in a Scotish auction in August 2020.

Texel originated on the Isle of Texel, Holland, over 500 years ago. They have been bred purely for meat quality, flavor and texture. A robust, compact sheep that are low maintenance and fast growing with very good grass to meat conversion. Lambs are born naturally small for ease in birth but grow rapidly and ‘muscle up’ early. We can produce 39kg lambs in 9 to 10 weeks, dressing out at a 21kg carcass.

Texel is a high yielding meat between 50-62%, with up to 7% less fat than other meat breeds. The meat is high in protein, iron and omega 3. It has a finer texture and much more flavor than other meat breeds.

The myomax gene is a muscle gene unique to the Texel breed. Sheep can have 1 to 2 copies that produce 5-10% more meat. 40 of our rams were tested and 36 came back with 2 copies.