Other than hosting our auction, we have been able to crutch and vaccinate the April/May drop weaners. This gave us an opportunity to assess them and also record their dag scores. It was very reassuring to see the next lift in quality for the young sheep that will be available for sale in September next […]
Ram grading for cataloguing has shown how far we have come in improving the wool types on our Dohnes whilst retaining the carcase traits that make the breed fertile and productive. Exciting results continue to flow in from the AMSEA trials being conducted at Balmoral in Western Victoria. The latest data, from the 2019 drop,
A key performance indicator for any sire is for his progeny to be stable in type and to breed a replacement that is better than himself. We were delighted to find such a successor amongst the first group of lambs from our Champion Dohne ram from the Bendigo Show in 2019. We will use this
After months of planning and with guidance from Meat and Livestock Australia through the Sheep Genetics staff, we implemented a project to record a series of measured and observed traits on pure Dohne lambs to help ratify genomic parameters for Dohnes. This meant taking DNA samples. We know both sire and dam, birth date and
We have almost finished planting our grain crop which now occupies about half the area of the farm. We have recorded early scores for breech cover and breech wrinkle at lamb tailing and as we do not mules our lambs, they have healed very quickly meaning the lambs received very little set back in growth.
There were three main focal points in May; seeding, lambing and shearing. We plant our own cereal and pulse crops, including hay; doing all our own preparation as well. We have some planning assistance from a commercial Agronomist. With lambing completed, we spent many days mothering up and tagging lambs, recording both parents, birth date
The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to impact what we do. The second field day, Karoonda Farm Fair, was cancelled, as was SA Sheep Expo, where we were going to support the younger generation in learning about the sheep industry. Although, day-to-day activities have been affected to a lesser extent given Agriculture is classed as an
Allen, Lauren and Damien travelled to Victoria for the 2020 Balmoral Sire Evaluation Group Field Day, where we were able to inspect the progeny from two of our sires, Glen Holme 151450 and Glen Holme 162503. This was a great opportunity to test the Glen Holme genetics in a different environment, and against Merino and
Adelaide was the venue chosen for the Australian Dohne Breeders Association members Forum. All stud breeders were invited to attend for a day and a half in which many matters that are of importance to the breed were outlined and there was plenty of time available for discussion. Major opportunities for change in the future
Scanning for fat and muscle depth on the 2019 drop lambs has given us the opportunity to observe the doing ability of each sire’s progeny. After the low rainfall of last year, our surface water supplies have all but dried out. We do not have reticulated water around Manoora. Equipping an existing bore and installing
