Andrew Green from “Kalinda”, Boorowa, took the top honors in the 30th annual Boorowa Flock Ewe competition against strong competition from local producers.
Returning to the competition after three years, Mr Green entered a high-quality flock of ewes with the future breeding objective “to breed a large fertile ewe with plenty of well nourished white wool”.
“We have a strong focus on fertility and fleece weight,” he said.
Mr Green runs a total of 3000 ewes, comprised of both Merinos and crossbreds on the 1200 hectare property that has been in the family for over 100 years.
A group of 260 four-tooth ewes were on display of which he classed out 12 per cent. Also on display was an exceptional group of green tag ewes that were classed as the top of the drop.
“Every year we pick out on average the top 20pc of the best sheep in the mob that go into a continual Merino production system where they are joined to the better rams,” he said. “This allows us to have better quality ewes to join to more expensive ram purchases.”
“Nearly 40pc of the drop were green tags on display, it was a really impressive drop.”
In 2017 Mr Green joined 648 ewes and marked 706 lambs, for a 109 per cent lambing percentage, which was up on previous years.
“We aim for on average a lambing percentage of 110 to 115 per cent. We are focusing on trying to produce more twins,” he said.
“It was interesting that on the day probably 70pc of the ewes were twins themselves.”
They shear in June and lamb in the July and August months. Mr Green classes his own sheep.
“We have found if we get the wool off the ewes, more lambs survive. The ewes can lamb through winter well as they take lambs away to warmer areas, improving lamb survival,” he said.
“Last year the Merino ewes averaged 7.3 kilograms of 18.5 micron wool at adult shearing.”
Mr Green’s flock has been based on Roseville Park ewe and ram bloodlines for the past 12 years.
“Roseville Park has big, heavy cutting, low micron sheep with high fertility which is what we are aiming for,” he said.
Mr Green’s father, John, had previously taken part in the competition for many years before his passing. He had been successful in winning the first place trophy in 2014, 2012 and 2008.
Tony Inder, “Allendale”, Wellington, and Hamish McLaren, “Nerstane”, Woolbrook, judged the flocks on February 16 before the top five flocks put on a display of 10 ewes at the Boorowa Show on March 3.
Mr Green’s four-tooth flock was ineligible to compete in last week’s Southern Tablelands Flock Ewe Competition.
