Walgett's solution to wool woes

About eight years ago, when the wool market crashed, Mark Evans – who operates Netherby with his wife Sue and son Sam – was looking for a change of direction and a sheep with "a bit more growth".

"We needed to do something different," he said.

The Dohne, with its similar wool quality to the Merino, "superior" growth rate and ability to do well in a dry season was the answer Mr Evans was looking for.

He has since bred up his sheep from a Merino base to a nearly pure Dohne flock.

"They're better foragers than Merinos," he said.

"They have better body weights, growth and a plainer body, and they're easy care and very fertile – we're joing our ewes at one per cent, instead of the 2.5pc we were doing for our Merinos – and the overall return per head is very good."

Mr Evans cited prices up to $150 a head in the last few years for his cull ewes, and lambs which made $90 to $100 at five to six months old.

"The wool is every bit as good as a Merino, and they're a lot bigger."

While he conceded his wool cuts had dropped, he said the lambs made up for the lack of quantity.

"We're not hanging on to them at all, they grow well," he said.

Having experienced a very dry year this year, Mr Evans said he was "pretty happy" with how the sheep had held up overall.

"The ewes have held their condition well, even though we have been feeding them a bit," he said.

The ewes – joined at 1pc – lambed in autumn, with lamb marking in June this year.

"Autumn is not as good as spring for lambing, but we still regularly get about 100pc to 110pc lambs," Mr Evans said.