WHEN it comes to producing a modern ewe that will produce lambs with the potential to yield well in a prime lamb market, Rick, Julie and Sam Gates are well positioned.
Mr Gates along with his father Arthur, Pollambi Poll Dorset Terminals, have been developing performance orientated prime lamb genetics for many years and now Rick and his son Sam are producing maternal composite ewes to complement the terminal sires.
“It all started when we tried to find replacements and couldn’t source superior ewes at a reasonable price for what was required on our country,” he said.
Before the switch to maternal composites Rick Gates and his family were running 1300 first cross ewes on 460ha of mixed basalt, granite and trapsoil country producing 1700 lambs and marking 155 per cent. These days the family run a maternal composites and White Suffolk stud at East Mihi and a smaller commercial flock on 350ha of finishing country at Gunnedah.
The Gates select for moderate birth weight, strong growth, good eating quality and carcase plus resistance to barbers pole worm and mothering traits. It sounds too good to be true but he has found what he is looking for and these days their prime lamb carcases yield a remarkable 50 plus per cent.
The Gates have settled on a composite that sports about 40 per cent Coopworth for excellent mothering, fecundity and lambing percentage; 30 per cent White Suffolk for eating quality, carcase and growth.
In the mix is a splash of Border Leicester which throws desirable black feet.
In recent times the Gates have added maternal TEFRom genetics from New Zealand.
While not bred for wool the Gates’ flock still produces enough – about 4.5kg of 30 micron per head – to offset the cost of fertiliser, which is critical in the New England region.
“It’s all about selecting the best genetics from several breeds and encompassing them in one,” he says.
“No industry can sit back and not change. To stay competitive we have to make genetic gains.”
Hoggets in lamb go the distance
RICK Gates, East Mihi via Uralla, joins all his ewe lambs at seven months, scans them at ten months, and achieves 100 per cent marking from these animals.
“It’s a young age to start work but Mr Gates has found success in this method, thanks to the genetics in his composite flock that highlight early fecundity.
“And we find that this trait for early lambing is highly heritable.”
Recent research out of New Zealand and Australia has found that lambing ewe hoggets actually improves lifetime production.
In Mr Gates’ flock the ability to lamb at one year old has been improved with selective culling of those who don’t. Ewe lambs are sold that scan empty at ten months and return a fine prime lamb price before they cut their teeth so there is no loss to production.
These pregnant female hoggets will take longer to reach their mature weight but Mr Gates reckons that’s a good thing when a producer is trying to minimise maintenance inputs.
