Our Stud ewes have been lambing and we have kept up to date with recording birth date and type along with full pedigree. All breeding values are built on the foundation of these critical pieces of information and are of significantly lesser value if they are not known. Hand feeding of the lambing ewes has […]
This is the best month for us to shear the previous year’s drop rams and ewes. The dry year meant that any young sheep grazing bean stubbles showed some dust. We had taken all the wool visual observations and found variation in dust penetration. After shearing we measured the scrotal circumference of all the young
Early this month, Lauren and Allen participated in the Australian Dohne Breeders forum in Adelaide. The Manager of Sheep Genetics was a key speaker, so this was an opportunity to hear when the long-awaited merging of the Dohne and MerinoSelect analyses would occur and for us to share our experiences of Sire Evaluation participation. Joy
Preg-scanning for multiples provides useful indications of reproduction, we cut short the December mating after weather effects were likely. Back up mating was planned following scanning which maximises the use of the best rams. Shearing the ewe hoggets led us to believe that their fleece wool would have good staple strength, and it also had
Our wonderful shearing shed is almost 60 years old. Wwe replaced some of the battens in the pens with new lengths of hardwood. Our 2024 drop lambs were scanned for eye muscle and fat depth. We need to know early carcase measurements as they are most relevant for early finishing lambs.
Harvest was started and finished with mixed results, but generally good quality grain. Later sown crops were able to benefit from the big rain in October. Drought and frost affected most of our earlier sown crops. Rams were removed from ewes after they had been in for a month.
Careful selection of sires for the mating groups of ewes was carried out. Rams were added near the end of the month and will be active while we are busy with harvest.
The last of our post sale deliveries of rams were made and some classing of ewe lambs for a client showed the value of putting Dohne rams over BL x Mo ewes to improve wool quality. Merino Superior Sires 30 was published with Glen Holme 206139 rising to the top rank in Merino Lamb, one
We were awarded the Champion Dohne Fleece at the Royal Adelaide Show. Our ram sale was successful in that we sold Dohnes to a top of $3,200 twice. Poll Merino ram sales increased in both numbers and average price.
Classing young rams enabled selection of the sale team, and by implementing some of the newly available standard visual scores, we were more confident than previous years in determining the lotting order. Some surplus sheep were turned out to market; returns are much better than in 2023.
