A previous Australian National Field Days (ANFD) Merino Wether Comparison trial winner has re-established his place amongst the top producers again, after the first shearing report tallied the Manildra grower at the top of the 9-month shearing results.
On Charinga bloodlines, Colin Sharpless, “Conoolphin”, Manildra, was proud to have his nine month shearing wether team record the largest dollar return of $59.75 of wool per head, 1075c above the trial average.
The team of 10 randomly selected wethers also reached the highest greasy fleece weight of 5.6 kilograms and highest clean fleece weight of 4.1kgs.
With four generations of Merino sheep breeding to draw upon, Mr Sharpless believes the importance of knowing your operations position within the industry at large is paramount to future success and in particular, increasing wool quality.
Operating about 900 sheep, the Manildra mob includes about 200 Merino wethers, 350 breeding ewes with the balance as hoggets.
Sourcing rams from Banavie and Charinga Merino stud’s, in the Saint Arnaud area, Victoria, the current three year ANFD trial is Mr Sharpless’s third entry, as he endeavours to establish if the characteristics of wool cut and skin he looks for in ram selection, is translating into his wether production.
“The stud’s we select our rams from shear their ewes every six months, so we join the trials to ultimately work out where we sit compared to other breeders and how sheep perform in other areas too,” Mr Sharpless said.
“The focus for us is to compare the nine month and 12 month shearing results - it’s the first time they have incorporated the two shearings into the trial,” he said.
“We are mostly interested in how the production costs weigh up and how profitable a second shearing could be for us, as we have traditionally left the wool on for 12 months.”
Mr Sharpless also said given the focus for his operation is on wool growing and not carcase traits, he needs to meet wool market trends within the industry, to remain competitive in the overall market.
He said currently the wool market is leaning towards 70-75mm length and by only incorporating a 12 month shearing, producers are reaching in excess of 100mm, which unfortunately has penalties attached to it.
“Length can also affect the strength of the wool too - the shorter wool tends to be stronger which is attractive to processors.”
The Manildra mob follows a slightly different management plan, with wethers retained until three years old, to gain maximum wool production.
The wether lambs are first shorn at five months old and then retained as hoggets for three shearings, then sold through the Forbes sale yards.
Running wethers on improved pastures and supplement feed of hay and grain, Mr Sharpless said he justifies the large amount of feed needed to retain the wethers for a long period because of the breeds profitability.
“We sold surplus wethers this year and got a return of $125.60 and cut about $100 worth of wool, so the return is about $225 for us at the moment,” he said.
Mr Sharpless’s recent shearing also revealed an average 8.5 kilogram wool cut across his entire flock with an average micron of 19.6 for the wethers.
“The wethers have an average wool cut of about 10 kilograms each so you can see why there seems to be an industry shift towards producers incorporating two shearings with the amount of wool and the return,” he said.
Mr Sharpless hopes at the conclusion of the three year trial in 2018, his mob will be placed in the top end of the results.
“The importance of the trial is not to take out the entire competition but to provide as many producers as possible with a bench mark to see where they sit in the larger scheme of things,” he said.