The 20th Caragabal Merino Ewe Competition once again provided valuable insight and ideas for all who are are interested in breeding Merino sheep and managing through a very dry season.
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Despite a dry and dusty twelve months eleven woolgrowers were keen to show off their Merino ewes, including several new entrants.
The competition provided a variety of entrants in terms of ram source, breeding experience, classing objectives, feeding conditions and timing of operations (lambing and shearing).
Special guest, former DPI Livestock Advisor, Ashley White, spoke briefly about recent advances such as DNA and genomic testing to help lift flock performance by targeting key attributes.
Rochelle Gaffey, Livestock Production Advisor for Elders, spoke during the lunch break on the nutritional requirements of breeding ewes throughout their life cycle and the importance of condition scoring ewes, preg scanning, separating twin bearers from singles and conducting and interpreting feed quality tests to ensure breeding ewes are receiving optimal nutrition. Rochelle said she was impressed by the commitment of the competition participants, who were managing to keep their ewes at a condition score of around 3, despite the poor year.
Led by Rick Power, Landmark stud stock, judges James Barron, Adina, Cooma and Guy Evans, Tara Park, Boorowa, industry representatives and participants all agreed that the presentation of stock was exceptional, considering the season.
“The drought has certainly taught wool growers how to feed sheep and, hopefully, with higher wool prices, farmers can see good returns for their efforts and financial outlay,” Mr Power said.
First place, sponsored by Jemalong Wool went to Jono Baker, Boree, Caragabal who has recently switched to sourcing rams from Haddon Rig, Warren.
He runs around 760 breeding ewes, with a main fleece line average of 19.2 micron and with improvements to the size of his sheep and wool cut, he has been able to move to shearing every eight months with an average adult greasy fleece weight of 4.2kg per shearing.
Second place, sponsored by Moses and Son, went to Trevor and Stephen Cooper, Burrabeena, Caragabal, who also took out the People’s Choice Award.
They have been sourcing rams through Rocklyn Merino Stud, Grenfell for ten years and have seen marked improvements to their flock fertility, growth rates and wool cut during that time.
The Coopers currently run around 2100 breeding ewes, with a lambing percentage to ewes joined of 107 percent, average adult greasy fleece weight of 7kg and main fleece line average of 18 micron.
The Encouragement Award went to Paul Taylor, Ravensleigh, Grenfell.
He runs around 1400 breeding Merino ewes, with rams sourced from Egelabra, Warren for the past eight years and they are shorn twice annually, with a total adult greasy fleece weight of 8kg.
His lambing percentage to ewes joined of 109 percent and average main fleece line micron of 19.4 proves the productive ability of his flock.
The day was very well supported by locals and industry representatives. Major sponsors for the day were Jemalong Wool, Moses and Son, Dean Stock and Land, Emerald Shearing, Platinum Shearing and Bromar Engineering.
Rick Power concluded proceedings by thanking the entrants, judges, participants and sponsors and adding “It’s a great day to get off your own farm and see what others are doing, learn and interact on a social level as well”.
