QUICK turnover and market suitability is important to fifth generation farmer, Spike Orr.
Mr Orr, with parents, Bob and Colleen, and brother, Tim, operate a mixed-farming enterprise on their 3237-hectare property, “Wilga”, at Parkes.
Their enterprise includes broadacre cropping, cattle and dual-purpose sheep production.
They join about 4500 ewes annually, of which 600 are stud Merinos. One third are joined to White Suffolk rams and the rest to Merinos.
“Suffolk lambs are usually turned off at weaning so they are dropping now. We wean in October with the bulk being drafted straight onto the truck and sold. This frees us up over summer as feed is haying off, giving us more room and options,” he said.
“The idea is they are gone as quickly as possible. (There is) always a solid market for that sort of thing. We aim for them to be ready to go straight into a feedlot.”
Merino wether lambs grown out and finished. If the season is going well, the tail-end of the crossbred lambs also stay on and are finished on pasture and self-feeders.
“We haven’t quite got to the feedlot stage at home yet. We have looked at perhaps going to that in the future. We might not sell if we can draft them into our own feedlot and make money, but that all takes time.”
Sires are selected for good growth rates, weaning weights, positive fat, eye muscle depth and visual constitution that includes a good shoulder shape.
“Fats are pretty important now. We are trying to get positive fats when we can with the Merinos,” he said.
“When we go to buy rams, producers doing second-cross lamb jobs don’t need fats therefore it puts us in a different market. This means when at auction we aren’t competing with as many others.”
Rams are commonly purchased from Peter Jackson’s Coronga White Suffolk stud, Orange.
“When we go to sales, so many of Peter’s sheep are multiples. Looking at accurate ASBVs means we get a clearer view of how they are genetically and how they will perform, other factors aside,” Mr Orr said.
“Genomics will make figures more accurate. That’s the theory of it.”
He expected demand from producers for genomic tested rams would depend on whether differences were being seen and if accuracy improved.
“Ram buyers need to bear in mind that using these technologies is going to cost the breeder more. They therefore need to be prepared to pay more for rams and the added certainty they may get,” Mr Orr said.
“The market will decide if ram breeders use DNA technologies.” If buyers kept chasing it, they would keep doing it.
