Shearing in the Bookham wether trial

All wethers were shorn upon arrival and they have been run in one mob with sheep husbandry and management practices applied to each sheep, the trial convenor Davo Weir, Bookham, said.

In that manner Mr Weir said, the performance of the Merino genetic sources can be compared under the same grazing system.

"We are comparing bloodlines in a commercial environment," he said.

"It gives woolgrowers the chance to be able to monitor the relative performance of the various bloodlines in a different environment and on different soil types."

Mr Weir explained the teams of wethers had been entered from major woolgrowing regions such as the Monaro, central west of NSW, southern tablelands and southwest slopes and running them on a property near Yass allowed the comparison to be fairly analysed.

"We even have SA bloodlines entered along with many of the major studs in NSW," he said.

"The trial is comparing apples with apples - I think there is a lot of noise and information in the industry now and this is a way to put facts and objective measurements for people to evaluate.

"It is one way of validating the performance of Merino flocks."

Further reading:

During the shearing last Monday, all wool which included fleece, bellies and pieces were weighed: the micron had been previously taken from a side-sample and the values were based on the price average for the 2020 wool selling season.

In first place was the team entered by Sid and Mary Walters, Cooma.

Their Greendale-blood wethers averaged ten kg greasy with a yield of 69.6pc which gave a clean fleece weight of 6.8kg and valued at 1333c/kg to give a gross of $87.05 per head.

The average micron measured across the ten fleeces was 20.3.

In second place was the Tallawong-blood team entered by the Leonard/Kaveney partnership from Yass.

The fleeces from those wethers had an average weight of 8.4kg greasy and with a yield of 70.8 gave a clean fleece weight of 5.8kg.

With a value of 1578c/kg the 17.9micron fleeces grossed $86.97c/head.

In third place was the Grogansworth-blood team entered by Caroline Spittle and her daughter Rosemary Mitchell, Kingslea Partnership, Bookham.

Their team had an average fleece weight of 9.0kg greasy with 74.7pc yield and valued at 1347c/kg to gross $84.38 per head.

The fleeces had average micron measurement of 19.6.

The Bookham wether trials began in the 1970's and it is thought to be the longest continuous trial in the state.

The current trial concludes in 2022 when the wethers will be sold and their carcase value is determined and added to the overall wool production through the four years.

Mr Weir said plans for a new trial to commence in 2023 are underway.