AIMING TO reduce flock numbers without sacrificing production, the Obst family began using Multimeat genetics to increase lambing percentages on their Kangaroo Island property.
Gary Obst and father Mac, with wives Jill and Pam, run 2000 Merino ewes on the family property at Wanbi in the Mallee and 2500 Border Leicester-Merino ewes on a secondary 450-hectare property near Parndana, KI.
Gary said they wanted to run less ewes on KI but still produce the same amount, if not more, lambs.
"We normally buy Merino or Border Leicester-Merino ewe lambs to run on KI but decided it could prove costly this year with prices touching $150-$200 a ewe," he said.
"We were lucky that the last lot of ewes we bought were only $80-$90 a head. But prices vary too much and so can the quality. So we decided to start breeding our own ewes for the Island."
The Obsts had heard about increased lambing percentages when using Multimeat genetics and did further research on the breed.
Multimeat rams carry the Booroola gene a multiple-birth gene. Once passed into ewe progeny, the gene increases the instance of twin and triple births in those ewes.
Multimeat genetics are the product of more than 50 years of research, including the past 20 years of refinement by sheep production scientist Colin Earl, Struan, who owns the breed with Lucindale stud breeder Phil Clothier.
Multimeat clients can only hire rams - at about $300 a ram per year - and are not allowed to reproduce rams as part of the contract. In September, the Obsts leased 10 Multimeat rams from Colin.
Gary says there are many benefits in the arrangement. For instance, if a ram dies, it is replaced and once the contract expires, the older rams are replaced with younger ones under a new contract.
"A price of $300/head/year may sound expensive but we could pay more than $1000/head at a ram sale and not have that ram insurance," he said.
The Obsts mated the rams to 800 older Merino ewes and about 850 Multimeat-cross lambs dropped in March this year, including 400 ewe lambs.
Gary said the timing - joining in October, dropping in March - was perfect because it gave the ewe lambs nearly 12 months to grow-out before being mated in February next year.
"The June-July lambs we were normally buying-in were just not physically big enough to mate by then, so they have low lambing percentages," he said. "Now we hope to have more control over that aspect."
Once weaned, the ewe lambs will be run on stubbles at Wanbi before being mated to White Suffolk rams and sent to KI in May. Multimeat-cross wethers are finished on cereals at Wanbi and sold at six months old or from 18 kilograms coarse weight to supermarkets and the local trade.
Over on KI, the Multimeat-cross ewe lambs are run on 420ha of pasture - clover, grasses and sown tetelia - while about 30ha is cut for hay.
These lambs are expected to adapt well to the KI climate because it is wetter and there is ample feed.
"Crossbred lambs prefer the wetter conditions because they are more adapted to English climate," Gary said. "We don't run Merino lambs over there."
The Multimeat-cross ewes are expected to lamb in July-August 2011. Those second-cross lambs will then be brought back to Wanbi to be finished on stubble before being sold on-hooks to supermarkets or local trade.
This year, prices averaged $100-plus for the second-cross lambs off the island.
"We got up to $146/head at the recent Loxton market for second-cross KI lambs - a price we have never received before," Gary said.
* Full report in Stock Journal, August 12 issue.
