Flock renewal lifts up fleece quality, yields

Symon Allen, who farms with parents Kym and Judith, and brother Joshua, returned to the farm full-time about 10 years ago, when they were joining Merino ewes with White Suffolk rams to create a first-cross lamb that was finished in their own feedlot.

But the byproduct of this focus on the first-cross product meant the wool quality had drifted downward.

"I naturally have a bit more passion for wool than meat, and we've got to shear anyway so we might as well be getting quality wool," he said.

This sparked an overhaul of their 1000 head Merino ewe flock, including buying in ewes from other commercial breeders that had invested heavily in rams, predominantly those with Karawatha Park bloodlines.

"We leapfrogged the normal way of getting better wool by buying in good quality ewes," Symon said.

He said while his natural inclination was for Merinos and wool, this paid off with the wool and lamb market climbing to record levels within the past few years.

"I don't think anyone could argue with the Merino job at the moment," he said.

He said the ewe flock had finally stabilised its numbers, with about 1500.

"We're fully self-replacing and got to the position where the hoggets we're classing out are good enough to keep," he said.

They have started to reintroduce White Suffolk-cross lambs back to the operation.

"The wool is good enough for the wool clip, even if they're not what we want to breed Merinos from," he said.

"Because we bought and sold a lot of ewes, our flock age is quite young - this is the first year in four years we will sell cast-for-age ewes."

They use Calcookara, Karawatha Park and Uralba genetics.

About four years ago they switched to shearing every six months with wool sold through Quality Wool.

Their staple length had reached 100 millimetres to 120mm on yearly shearing, but when switching to six-month shearing, it was 65-70mm, twice a year.

"So we end up cutting more wool across the 12 months," he said.

Merino wethers are shorn twice and sold before they cut their teeth.

Symon said they treated for lice at their April shearing, and for blowflies with CLiK at the October shearing.

"We haven't had a single ewe go down with flies in three years," he said.

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He said staple length had become a big focus when planning nutrition as well as when selecting rams.

They have been focusing on the Australian Sheep Breeding Values Dual Purpose Plus index, to increase their wether sizes, alongside staple length to reduce potential penalties with six-monthly shearing.

Symon has begun buying rams with his brother-in-law Matt Story, Mangalo.

"The genetics we're accessing, buying in syndicate, are completely out of reach buying rams separately," he said.

In order to make this work, and from lessons learnt from neighbours, the Allens have shifted their lambing time from late June to mid-May.

They also have introduced the use of teaser rams, which join the flock two weeks before joining, which has improved their conception success and narrowed their lambing window.

"Almost all lambs drop one or two days either side of May 15," he said.

Symon said the benefit of a nutrition focus paid off in their marking percentages.

"This year is probably the toughest year we've ever had but probably the best lambing percentage since I've been back," he said. "We marked 106 per cent compared to what was mated."

In order to handle the tough season, the Allens have relied on barley hay, cut after frost hit last year, as well as putting grain and graze principals into practice.

In order to rest their 400 hectares of established lucerne, they have run their mobs in their barley paddocks, for about one to two weeks, removing them before growth stage 30.

The wethers will be finished in the feedlot, while their ewes will return to the stubbles after harvest.

Symon is also a big advocate of the benefits of taking part in benchmarking groups and Lifetime Ewe Management courses.

"(LTEM) really opened my eyes to the proper way to manage our sheep and how much feed they really do need at certain times of the year," he said.

"We don't waste feed because we're putting it in at right times instead of at all times and don't have poor ewes because they're not getting enough at important times."

He said the benchmarking course allowed them to know how they compared to their neighbours, but also allowed them to learn from their neighbours about what could work in their region.

"There are always things you can improve - everyone in the group changed a lot or slightly," he said.