Mating young ewes boosts flock performance between the surf and snow

The pair put 1500 Merino lambs to Border Leicester rams in March this year and conception rates at scanning were 68 per cent - including some multiples.

Mr Haylock said it was the first time they had tried the tactic of mating ewe lambs, and he would definitely do it again in the right seasons.

But he said it was vital to get nutrition, genetics and management right to optimise results.

The Haylocks made sure their ewe lambs were at a minimum body weight of 40 kilograms per head and they received quality feed in the lead-up to, during and after the first joining.

Mr Haylock said scanning showed many of the ewe lambs conceived during their second cycle, which could have been the result of the lambs still maturing.

"Given this, next time we would slightly delay joining by a few weeks so the lambs were a bit more mature," he said.

"We believe early maturity is key to boosting conception rates more.

"Seasonal conditions this year were ideal to try this strategy, and we took the opportunity to mate younger to build-up our ewe numbers."

The Haylocks were able to keep the bulk of their flock during the recent NSW drought years by feeding and agisting sheep.

But they aim to build numbers to return to long-term stocking rates.

"We used Border Leicester rams over the ewe lambs this year to contain birthweights and make it easier for them to give birth," Mr Haylock said.

"From now on, they will be joined to Merino sires."

Recovery of the ewe hoggets before their second joining in 2022 will be integral to protecting their lifetime reproductive performance, optimising whole-farm productivity and minimising risks.

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During the lambing and lactation period, from early August until about October, the Haylocks will typically put young ewes on paddocks sown with cereal and canola crops specifically for grazing.

They will then move them on to pastures for the remaining lactation period.

This ensures high quality nutrition and a quick recovery in preparation for joining again in autumn.

"Our focus on early maturity and faster weight gains means there is a higher percentage that will successfully cycle, join and lamb in the following year, with a good conception rate," Mr Haylock said.

"To facilitate this process, we graze the ewes on a variety of cereal crops including oats, barley, wheat and a ryegrass-brassica mix.

"The sheep come off these paddocks around October and we aim to sell the new season lambs by Christmas."

The Haylocks, who operate as Old Springfield Partnership, have a total of about 11,000 sheep on the 4400-hectare property, location about an hour from the coast, at the base of the Snowy Mountains.

The third-generation producers continue to focus primarily on Merino wool and meat production, with the aim to run big-framed, dual-purpose, fast maturing Merinos that have good early growth, high fertility, quality wool and carcase specifications.

Genetics are sourced from the Richmond SRS Merino stud, based in south western NSW, which has a reputation for producing highly fertile, true dual-purpose sheep with soft, superior-processing wools and productive lambs that grow fast.

Mr Haylock said he attends the stud's annual sale with his classer, choosing rams based on visual conformation, frame and Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) for wool cut, early growth rate, muscle depth, fat cover and wool quality traits - especially staple length.

He said a extra benefit was the stud's efforts to breed a plain, wrinkle-free body.

"And their genetics are boosting our flock fertility, with marking rates now about 110 per cent."

The Haylocks retain most ewe lambs for breeding and sell wethers direct to JBS for processing at 10months of age and at weights of 58 to 60 kilograms.

This is after they have been shorn twice to provide extra cashflow from wool production.

The average wool fibre diameter is 17 to 18-micron and this year the wethers produced an average cut of 3.1kg/head between January and July - without compromising staple length, which averaged 50 to 60 millimetres.

Older ewes and about 2000 head of wethers retained for wool production each year are shorn annually in January.

The Haylocks subscribe to Australian Wool Innovation's Lifetime Ewe Management (LTEM) program and are about to start a new training course with several graziers nearby.

"Part of the program is going to each other's farms to learn and improve on our skills in animal nutrition, pasture assessments and best practice ewe and lamb management," Mr Haylock said.

As recommended by LTEM researchers, he said the aim was to keep their ewes in condition score three all year round by managing genetics, stocking rates and animal nutrition.

Young stock are grazed on crops from mid-March to October, when paddocks are locked up and harvested when seasons made this worthwhile.

Improved pasture species are sown and managed for about a decade before being planted back to a cereal or canola crop.