THE dual purpose Merino is increasingly benefiting wool and meat producers.
Third generation director of the 7800-hectare Harden district property, "Oxton Park", Paul O'Connor, with his brothers Peter and John and cousin Pat, are focused on using the best genetics either through artificial insemination (AI) or physical rams to potentially increase their bottom line.
"As a business we have been aware of the benefits of having a dual purpose Merino sheep for a number of years," Mr O'Connor said.
The dual purpose Merino evolved nearly 10 years ago when sheep meat prices improved and it didn't make sense to keep wethers for wool when the meat was worth more.
"Getting $3.50 a kilogram for sheep meat instead of the $1.50kg we were used to was why the meat side became more important to our business,"Mr O'Connor said.
"Now the aim is to increase fleece weights, but at the same time continue to improve carcase performance, from a quicker maturing sheep."
The later being important because of the wether lamb portion of the enterprise.
This year "Oxton Park" averaged $120 a head at an average weight of 22 kilograms at an average age of about 11 months.
"They (the wether lambs) have been doing that since 2006 - that's why we went down the path years ago," he said.
"Our goal was to switch from the traditional Merino to breed a quicker maturing Merino we could not only get the benefit of the wool income, but take advantage of the opportunity on the meat side of the business," he said.
Generally contracted each year, he said this year's results were typical of the performance they had achieved in the past eight years.
"Our aim is to cut as much as seven kilograms of greasy fleece weight of wool at 19-micron from our breeding ewes and then be able to hang up the wether lamb portion at 10 months of age averaging a 23kg and 24kg carcase shows the beauty of the dual purpose Merino," he said.
As far as fertility goes, current lamb marking percentages are about 110pc of lambs marked to ewes joined, with Mr O'Connor saying there was potential to improve that in time.
This year the O'Connors lambed down about 10,500 ewes to Merinos and 5500 to Poll Dorsets.
Mr O'Connor said they had been using an AI program since 1995 to breed their own rams.
"Back then we couldn't buy the 40 rams a year of the type we were looking for, so we started sourcing semen and breeding our own rams," he said.
Mr O'Connor said one of the things that had become quite big in the area was the South West Slopes Merino Breeders Field Day at Galong.
"As it has grown into a much bigger field day it has become useful to commercial operations such as ours to go and see all the different genetics in the one location," he said.
"Whenever we introduce new genetics we're keeping everything in mind - it's not about chasing any one particular trait and sacrificing everything else that goes into the mix.
"Semen has the attraction that you can tap into a stud's best genetics."
Since 2009 they have introduced new genetics into the flock as well as employing sheep classer Chris Bow- man, Hay.
"The main objective at "Oxton Park" is to continue to lift wool weights on the flock without losing the excellent lambing percentages recorded in the past decade," Mr Bowman said.
"There is a negative correlation in cutting a lot of wool and higher than average lambing percentages so we are trying to achieve that balance through the right blend of genetics.
"Most importantly stocking rates and management also have to be considered - it's probably harder in some senses to put an extra kilo of wool on a sheep at optimum stocking rates than it is to get a lamb on the ground.
"And generally the kilogram of meat is easier to put on than a kilo of wool."
Mr Bowman said they were aiming to blend the western type sheep which have the big frame and wool cut with the inland or high rainfall sheep that normally have the extra wool quality and brightness.
