A SIX-year trial has answered the age-old question, what is the best sheep type for a combination of prime lamb and wool production?
The Elmore Field Days’ ‘Ewes for the future’ trial, compared five breeds of ewes for their lifetime production of meat and wool amid a growing trend of Australian woolgrowers heading down the dual-purpose sheep route.
The results of the trial were recently presented to 400 attendees at the Best Wool Best Lamb conference in Bendigo by trial facilitator and industry consultant Kieran Ransom.
The trial, which compared lambing percentages, lamb growth and wool production, revealed dual-purpose Merinos to be the most profitable sheep system in a medium-rainfall region, averaging total returns of $40 a dry sheep equivalent, $5/DSE above its competitors.
“Prime lambs from specialist dual purpose merino ewes with the characters of very good lambing percentage, high wool value and good body growth, had higher gross margins by an average of 34 per cent above four alternative ewe breed choices and 20pc above local merinos in four lamb production environment-systems,” Mr Ransom said.
“If you compromise of any of these three things you’re not up to scratch.
“A self-replacing merino flock can also be a very profitable enterprise when it produces slaughter weight Merino wether lambs as well as replacement ewes.”
In the trial, 210 ewes from five breed types of ewes were joined to terminal sires, either white Suffolk or Poll Dorset for six years, and analysed for their profitability and performance using GrassGro modelling.
The breeds included Border Leicester × Merino cross and Loddon Valley Merinos, which were deemed local common breeds, which were compared with three dual-purpose merino breeds - Centre Plus Merino, Dohne Merino and South African Meat Merino (SAMM).
The ewes were run in single mobs except at lambing, across four southern locations.
Two properties were located at Elmore, which were run at 7.4DSE/ha on Lucerne and crop and 5DSE/ha on pasture and crop, Rutherglen, at 10DSE/ha on pasture, and Hamilton, at 15DSE/ha on perennial ryegrass.
“Lambing percentages, lamb growth, and wool and easy-care characters are all highly relevant to improving profitability, but no single ewe type excelled in all compartments,” Mr Ransom said.
Lambs from the Dohne and Centre Plus ewes were only 1.5 kg lighter than lambs from border Leicester x Merino ewes on the date of the first lamb sale.
The Centre Plus ewes had a 20pc higher lambing than the local Merinos at 116pc, while Dohnes’ marked at 96pc and Border Leicester x Merino ewes at 132pc.
Loddon Valley Merino and Centre Plus Merino had the greatest fleece cuts at 4.8kg and 4.1kg, with wool returns of $53/ewe and $50/ewe, respectively. However the Border Leicester x Merino and SAMM had the greatest lamb returns at $155/ewe and $157/ewe, respectively.
When wool and meat were combined, the SAMM and Centre Plus breeds were on par, at $180/ewe, with the Border Leicester x Merino close at $174/ewe.
However, University of Melbourne Mackinnon Project John Webb Ware said returns per hectare from the Border Leicester x Merino and SAMM would be lower when their higher feed intake was taken into account because of a higher number of lambs reared and heavier ewes.
He said with large differences in profitability based on ewe breed, producers must “do your sums carefully” before changing genetics as there is a large range in profitability of both merino and specialist prime lamb breeds.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) sheep figures for 2015-16 reveal the number of farms reported to be carrying Merino breeding ewes decreased sharply, with 25pc fewer farms with Merino breeding ewes in 2016 than there were in the flock recovery phase of 2011 at just 18,300 farms.
“More and more specialist prime lamb buyers are moving to composite ewes ad because of the high prices of first-cross ewes, lower availability of first cross ewes, and in a way there is greater control of their control of genetic destiny as well as minimising the risk of introducing disease,” Dr Webb Ware said.
“The trial highlights how different genetics can really drive profits. Both wool and meat is important so just chasing the meat in a system is dangerous if you disregard your fleece values or your environment.
"The better performing Merinos had good fleece values and produced prime lambs.”