Passionate about Merinos at Cootamundra

"It's hard to increase our ewe numbers and keep lifting their quality is a challenge, and I'm ready for it."

Mr Burge has been breeding Merino sheep since 2019, changing over from his previous first-cross ewe operation when the opportunity arose to secure Willandra-blood ewes from a neighbour.

"Merinos for us are a diverse animal, suited to our country and we have many options," he said.

"Obviously wool is the major part, but being a big framed Willandra-blood sheep, we also have a fairly good carcass.

"And I just enjoy Merinos over cross-breds."

Since Mr Burge started using eID tags, he has been collecting data on his sheep, which he said has made him much more aware of each individual sheep.

He also scores various traits such as body wrinkle, and with the collected data, he is building a greater understanding of the productive potential of his Merino ewes.

Shearing on Windella is conducted each eight months, August, April and January, and he noted that where most woolgrowers would manage a twelve month program, he actually runs a 24 month program.

"We've been averaging 5.8kg of 19.2m fleece across the whole flock at each shearing," Mr Burge said.

"I also believe our sheep are in better condition off-shears with the eight month shearing than if they had only been shorn at 12 months.

"But the main reason we shear every eight months is not financial, its management related."

Mr Burge pointed out that his ewes do better in shorter wool, and he can manage fly-strike a lot better, and other issues like lambing ewes with long wool, or in summer or winter when it's wet.

"We are still getting plenty of staple length, but the ease of management is a big issue with us," he said.

The maiden ewes are classed at 25pc taken out as seconds by Tasmanian-based classer Ben Patrick, and they are sold.

Last year, Mr Burge weaned 106pc lambs to ewes joined, and he lambs in May or June depending on the eight month shearing cycle.

"We move our joining dates and our lambing dates around our shearing so that we don't stress the sheep," he said.

"We have just finished shearing so this year our ewes will lamb in short wool.

"It is not really an issue to adjust our joining dates to fit in with our shearing dates."

Joining on Windella is for a five and half week period, and all ewes are scanned.

Dry ewes are sold, except for the maidens which missed their first joining, are identified on their eID tags and given a second chance.

The huge gap between percentages of fetuses at scanning and the actual number of lambs marked is of great concern to the entire sheep industry, and Mr Burge is taking steps to identify the cause.

"We are trying to work out where the embryos are being lost between scanning and lamb marking, because we try to manage them in small flocks during lambing, and we just don't feel our lamb marking percentages are good enough," he said.

"We need to know why the fetuses don't develop and currently we are doing some blood testing on that issue at lamb marking."

The Willandra-blood maiden ewes bred by James and Sally Burge were awarded first place in the recent Cootamundra Show Society Maiden Merino Ewe Competition, judged by Michael Corkhill, Grassy Creek Merinos, Reids Flat, and Glen Rubie, Lachlan Merinos, Forbes.

They were encouraged to enter by their wool representative, but he also enjoys improving what he does on Windella and learning how to implement that improvement.

"I'm also open to constructive criticism, but during the competition learning from the success of other farmers has been instructive," Mr Burge said.

"It's also a chance to compare yourself to the industry and learn more about Merinos from people who are passionate."

Mr Burge said the feedback for his maiden ewes was positive and which gave him a boost in confidence.

"It made us feel like we are on the right track, so we don't need to make any major changes," he said.

"But it was interesting when looking at other people's flocks and their business as a whole because we were all in the competition with Merinos but we are not all running the same business models.

"I found it very interesting to see what other people were doing in comparison to our program.

"The good thing is that there is no right or wrong, but it is interesting to compare."

Mr Burge said there has been a lot of discussion about lamb loss and that's where the idea of blood testing originated.

Taking note of the judges comments with regard to wool quality, Mr Burge said he took that comment very seriously.

"Personally, we need to fine up the wool of our flock, trying to bring it back between half and one micron, and still keep the fleece weight," he said.