Elmore Field Days ewe trial final report, covering ewes' lifetime performance

Sheep farmers are actively seeking unbiased information on the performance of sheep breeds, and bloodlines within breeds, to help improve their overall profitability.

To help answer this question, Elmore Field Days Inc. ran a comparison between 2009 to 2014 to determine the merits of five ewe breed types for prime lamb and wool production, titled 'Ewes for the future: lambs, wool and profit'.

Each of the five breed types was represented by 42 ewes randomly selected from three properties. The results are likely to be most relevant to mixed sheep–crop farms in the 400 to 500mm rainfall zone, where internal parasites and feet problems are likely to be less of an issue than in some higher-rainfall areas.

Summary

• The Elmore Field Days trial 'Ewes for the future: lambs, wool and profit' compared five breeds of ewes for their lifetime production of meat and wool.
• The main characters compared were lambing percentages, lamb growth and wool production.
• The final results indicate dual-purpose merinos to be a very profitable sheep system.

In the trial, the five breed types of ewes were joined to terminal sires, either white Suffolk or poll Dorset, for six years. Their first joining was as ewe lambs. Two common, local ewe breed types were compared with three dual-purpose merino breeds that have been recently introduced:

• Border Leicester × merino cross — the most common prime lamb mother in northern Victoria. Ewes were sourced with the help of the $uperBorder$ group
• Loddon Valley merino — the second most common prime lamb mother in northern Victoria, based on Peppin bloodlines with some influence from South Australian bloodlines. Ewes were sourced with the help of the Loddon Valley Stud Merino Breeders Association
• Centre Plus merino. Centre Plus is a group breeding scheme and merino stud in central-west New South Wales that aims to produce multipurpose sheep. Sheep were sourced with help from the group.
• Dohne merino — a dual-purpose breed developed in South Africa. In 2008, the Dohne breed was in the early stages of introduction to Australia from South Africa. Two properties supplied F2 ewe lambs, and a third property supplied F3 ewes. Sheep were sourced with the assistance of the Australian Dohne Breeders Association
• SAMM (South African meat merino) — a dual-purpose sheep originally bred in South Africa. In 2008, the SAMM breed was in the early stages of introduction to Australia. Two properties supplied F3 ewe lambs, and a third supplied a mix of F2s and F3s. Sheep were sourced with the assistance of the Prime SAMM Breeders' Society of Australia.

The ewes were run together as one mob except at lambing. The results presented here cover only the five adult years. The first-year joining as ewe lambs occurred only seven weeks after their arrival on the Elmore farm, and differences in body weights and age (whether they had reached puberty) were the main reasons for the breed differences observed then.

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.

The main results and estimated returns are shown Tables 5 and 6.

Lambs from the Dohne and Centre Plus ewes were only 1.5kg lighter than lambs from border Leicester × merino ewes on the date of the first lamb sale. The Centre Plus ewes had a 20 per cent higher lambing than the local merinos and Dohnes, only 16 per cent behind the border Leicester × merino ewes. The Loddon Valley merino and Centre Plus merino had the greatest wool returns, whereas border Leicester × merino and SAMM had the greatest lamb returns.

When wool and meat were combined, the SAMM and Centre Plus breeds were equivalent, and the border Leicester × merino was close. However, returns per hectare from the border Leicester × merino and SAMM would be lower when their higher feed intake is taken into account, because of a higher number of lambs reared and heavier ewes. However, indications are that dual-purpose merinos with good wool, reproduction and lamb growth are likely to be the most profitable alternative in this Elmore environment. Whole-flock systems analyses using models such as GrassGro are needed to fully investigate whole-farm profitability.

Statistical analyses by University of Adelaide researchers clearly showed that the trial had sufficient numbers to validly test sheep reproduction, weights and wool production. Trials such as this provide a reliable guide to the reproductive performance of the flocks of origin, as the property of origin variance was very small. In addition, several trials have indicated that the nutrition of the young ewe, from conceptus to weaning (before entry to the trial), has limited effects on lifetime reproductive performance under commercial farm conditions.

This project was funded and conducted by Elmore Field Days Inc. and the Campaspe Prime Lamb Producers Group. Professional help was received from three organisations and six product support sponsors. Australian Wool Innovation provided the funds for statistical analyses.

Table 5. Main results for the five adult years, 2010 to 2014

Table 6. Yearly returns per ewe from lamb and wool production, and dry sheep equivalent (DSE) estimate per ewe–lambs unit. Average 5 years as adults.

Note: The wool and lamb returns per ewe were calculated each year using average prices over the previous 12 months. Lamb returns per ewe were calculated from lambing percentage, lamb live weight, dressing percentage and skin value. Wool returns reflected clean fleece weight.