SHEEP producers are set for an unexpected bonus with more twin lambs expected this season across South Australia.
They may come over a longer period, however, with early scanning showing lower conception rates and a higher proportion of ewes taking longer to get in-lamb.
Cousins Merino Services Paul Cousins, from Burra, said scanning rates were easily as good as last year and had gradually improved through the scanning season which started in January.
He said conception rates were 85 per cent to 93pc in most mobs and it was not uncommon to scan 50pc twins.
"It started lower at the start (then) twin numbers started improving and now there are a lot of twins around. We have seen 70pc in a couple of mobs," he said.
Mr Cousins said the Broken Hill region was one of the few with lower conception rates - some mobs scanning only 60-75pc in lamb.
He attributed this to ewes not coming into watering points as frequently and rams having more difficulty mating ewes.
But with an increased number of twin-bearing ewes in those mobs, he expected similar numbers of lambs.
South East scanner Greg Fitzgerald said early rates among his Animal Scanning Services clients had been up and down, but those scanning for multiples had seen more twins, particularly in the latter part of the season.
Those farms with perennial pastures or lucerne-based pasture systems had enjoyed the benefit of higher summer rainfall and good amounts of feed on offer, but Mr Fitzgerald said the increased incidence of flystrike and foot abscesses during late spring and summer had impacted on early conception rates.
He said producers had been forced to handle their ewes more than usual, and more rams had been temporarily lame with foot abscesses. Mr Fitzgerald acknowledged there could be fewer lambs early in the season but overall expected more lambs hitting the ground than last year.
"The feedback on those lambing until now is that it has been going along nicely. The weather has been pretty kind and there has not been a big problem with dystocia because there has been little grain feeding," he said.
Many Mallee sheep producers have been lambing since early April.
Sherlock Merino breeder Wes Titley said the producers he had spoken to were more than satisfied with lambing percentages.
"Some clients are saying they have had a colossal number of twins early in the lambing season," he said.
"We have marked some Merinos and been pretty happy and going around one of the mobs we have not seen a ewe running around without a lamb."
He said foxes had been less of a menace this year because of the mice plague.
"The foxes have had plenty of mice to eat so they have left the lambs alone," Mr Titley said.
Rural Solutions SA senior livestock consultant Bruce Hancock said the mild weather conditions had provided the ideal start to the lambing season.
*Full report in Stock Journal, May 26 issue, 2011.