ONE of the nation’s largest farm consultancies is impressed with the breeding objectives of Dohne sheep after analysis of flocks throughout Australia.
Western Australian based Farmanco chairman, Rob Sands, Munaring, said the consultancy was impressed with the breed.
“The great thing about Dohnes is that they’ve got the right breeding objectives and those objectives are all measurable,” he said.
“We do significant analysis over a number of Dohne flocks across various clients and we can monitor, compare and benchmark against other breeds in our operation.
“The results for Dohnes really come through making solid returns out of meat, about the same from wool but with lower production costs.
“When you put these factors together a better gross margin is achieved and that is what it’s all about.”
Mr Sands was quick to dispel the myth about Dohnes cutting less wool and pointed out that in reality there was more variation within a breed than between breeds.
“Our clients are happy with their wool cut and see the dollars in the extra number of lambs that Dohne ewes wean,” he said.
Farmanco consult to some 750 clients and sheep play a significant role with clients running around 1.2 million head.
“Most of our clients are mixed farming enterprises and through rotational crop programs and utilising pastures they have seen their profits increase by integrating Dohnes into their operations,” Mr Sands said.
“Dohnes are a breed that utilise the advancements in genetics coupled with the right objectives and objective measurements.
“Being mixed farming operations, cropping is providing larger returns but the reality is that Dohnes across our client base provide a sheep operation which is easy to manage, is not complicated but still drives profitability into their business through improving the return from the pasture phase.”
Comparisons to Merino
Comparison numbers extracted from the 2016 Farmanco Profit Series which the company sells online show:
Weaning - percentage on a five year average Dohne at 98 per cent against Merino at 89pc; Death for Dohne at 3pc against Merino at 5pc;
Wool cut (based on kilograms per winter grazing (KG/WG) dry sheep equivalent (DSE) 4.04 for Dohne against 4.29 for Merino;
Net sales (SWG DSE) $45.05 Done against $39.09 for Merino;
Wool income ($WG DSW) $27.28 Dohne as against $31.39 Merino;
Gross margin ($WG DSE) $31.58 Dohne as against $24.95 Merino.
