HANDS up, any woolgrower who expects to improve wool returns by 400 per cent in the next 13 years?
Kangaroo Island woolgrowers John and Jo Symons did exactly that in the past 13 years, aided by a consultant who put a razor-sharp focus on selection and measurement, and the potent combination of Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) and artificial insemination.
In 2000, the family was in some financial trouble, largely due to faltering off-farm investments.
Things on the farm weren’t helping.
In 1992, the 6000-head flock on the Symons’ 530-hectare Parndana property, “Turkey Lane”, was cutting an average 6.4 kilograms per head of 24.4 micron wool.
Responding to the market, they began work fining-up their micron.
In 16 years they reduced fibre diameter by a modest four per cent, but in the process also lost fleece weight.
In 2000, the couple turned to Greg Johnsson of AgVet Services for advice, including whether they should change their enterprise.
Mr Johnsson suggested they stick with wool production, but change their processes.
In partnership with Mr Johnsson they became a model farm for showcasing best practice in Merino wool production.
Many of the early changes the team worked through focused on management – shifting the timing of lambing and shearing, improving pasture management (which lifted carrying capacity by 1 DSE/ha), and improving recording.
Most of those changes had the potential to adversely affect greasy fleece weight (GFW).
Within three years, though, it was apparent management alone had arrested the decline in GFW, albeit with a temporary pause in reduction in fibre diameter.
In 2000, average fibre diameter across the “Turkey Lane” flock was still about 23.4 micron.
By 2007, it had dipped below 20 micron, and has since stayed at an average in the 19 micron range.
Over the same time – and despite the team repeatedly being told it wasn’t possible to “fine up” while sustaining wool cut – GFW has increased by 10pc.
In 1998, Mr Symons said “Turkey Lane” produced 120 bales of wool.
In the last season, the Symonses rolled 168 bales out of the shed – and the wool the bales contained was four microns finer than its 1998 counterpart.
The genetic program that helped deliver this productivity change revolves around sire selection using ASBVs and an equivalent of the MerinoSelect fibre production (FP+) index, which aims to decrease fibre diameter while maintaining fleece weight.
For biosecurity reasons, Mr Symons elected to only bring in semen and build his own ram nucleus flock using AI.
That meant rams from anywhere in Australia could be strategically targeted through their ASBVs,
and matched to complementary ewes.
A minimum of two sires was used at each joining.
The net effect on the Symonses bottom line is something unusual in the wool industry: profit levels are improving faster than the rise in costs.
A detailed case study of “Turkey Lane” is available at www.sheepcrc.com.au
