An oldie but a goodie

But Narromine area breeder, Warren Skinner, is worried the time-honoured and proven cross may die out with the older generation, who have traditionally bred that way.

“Most of the traditional breeders have stuck with the first-cross job, but I worry once this generation gets older, the young people that take over may move away and to different breeds on offer,” he said.

“That would be a worry because you can make a good profit from first-cross sheep.

“We have consistently made a profit from shearing our first-cross lambs and their mothers.”

He said the profit from shearing lambs was between $10 and $14 a head throughout the past five years.

“You’re paid about the same price per kilo for the lamb’s wool and that of their mothers, so when added into the profit of your lambs at the end of the year, it becomes significant,” Mr Skinner said.

He said crossbred wool was worth more now than it had been in the past.

“So times have changed for the better,” he said.

The Skinner family has been breeding first-cross ewes for three generations at “Deloraine”, Wyanga, between Tomingley and Narromine, starting with Clem and the late Del Skinner and continued by his son, Warren, wife Loraine and their son, Adam.

A pen of maiden ewes they offered at the annual Narromine First-Cross ewe sale (NFX) last October topped at $167 a head.

The enterprise is based on a 2000-head Merino flock of ewes mainly sourced from two local breeders, John and Eleanor Maher of “Spring Valley”, Tomingley, or the Strahorn family of Tomingley.

These are joined to Border Leicester rams from John and Janet de Bonford’s Glen Alvie stud, Narromine.

The main joining of Merinos to Border Leicester rams in spring aims to produce first-cross lambs in March/April, of which the best ewes are offered at the NFX sale, while the better of the remainder are sold in prime condition at January and February Narromine store sales.

Wethers are marketed as lambs at Dubbo or sold over the hooks.

Surplus ewes are joined at eight months to Poll Dorset rams from Ashbank stud, Dubbo, with progeny grown out for finishing as prime lambs.

There are two joinings and lambings at “Deloraine” of both the Merino and the first-cross ewes.

“The traditional autumn lambing is when we get our best percentages, but we give our dry ewes a second chance and they lamb off-season,” he said.

“Although we have a lower joiningpercentage, we normally gain higher prices from the off-season lamb.”

Mr Skinner said first-cross ewes sometimes got a bad rap because they needed more feed than a Merino.

“In my experience our dry first-cross ewes eat less feed to maintain their condition, but once they lamb and are supporting two or three lambs, they certainly eat a lot of feed, but are producing a lot as well,” he said.

“They have a higher lambing percentage (130 to 160 per cent at marking) than a Merino and while they don’t produce as much wool, their dollar return by comparison is better for the amount of feed that each breed eats.”

This will differ when wool prices are high.

Mr Skinner said the first-cross ewe was a consistent mother and more profitable in combined wool and lamb return over her lifetime in the paddock.