RATHER than latching onto singular market signals and letting that dictate the genetic direction of their flock, Lambs Alive sheep consultant Jason Trompf says flexibility should be the focus for Merino producers in ensuring long-term productivity.
Speaking at the MLA MeatUp forum held at Gawler last month, Dr Trompf said while there had been a recent industry emphasis on increasing wool cuts, chasing a singular objective could reduce market opportunities and reduce the volume of other products that could be produced from the versatile Merino.
"I get frustrated with single market signals because that is not how production systems work, that is not how adaptable animals adapt to exist," he said.
"We've got to work out where income is coming from and I'm really big on this with Merino farming.
"People will claim to be a woolgrower, but when you do the numbers very often it's about 60 per cent meat and surplus sheep sales and only 30pc or 40pc wool.
"They're more than a woolgrower - they've got a fantastic animal which produces several products that all behave independently in the marketplace, so why go out and overwool the animal for its production environment and trade off on all the other aspects?"
Dr Trompf said research had shown the trait that was most correlated to weaner death was yearling clean fleece weight.
He said there needed to be a renewed focus on resilience and survivability in Merino breeding, starting with post-weaning survival rates and the performance of maiden ewes.
"The average maiden ewe performance in Merinos is 20pc or more less lambs marked than the adults on the same farm," Dr Trompf said.
"It's because the animal, in a lot of cases, is overwooled for its production environment. It's trying to develop a skin and kilograms of wool while you're asking it to be reproductive as well.
"Producers should back the wool off a kilogram, balance up the traits, improve their management a bit and watch the system flourish.
"I could list many farms that have dialled back a kilogram of wool and have gone up 30pc on lambs. They've created a sheep which is adaptable and we have to have production systems where the animals thrive and survive."
Dr Trompf said building a production system where animals survived and thrived could begin with producers selecting animals that maintained condition score under nutritional stress.
"We've selected for this for years in cattle," he said
"The way to select for it (in sheep) is to think of the amount of body tissue that the animal carries relative to its surface area."
Mr Trompf said by selecting animals that were more proficient at maintaining their condition score under nutritional stress could be the make or break factor for producers during drought.
"Running late-maturing animals that have got huge surface areas to maintain, and have a small fuel tank, only works if you fill up the fuel tank every day," he said.
"It doesn't work if you go through a drought - they'll eat you out of house and home and they will not rebound back to condition nearly as quickly as the other animals."
Breeding objective crucial to success
LAMBS Alive sheep consultant Jason Trompf says the critical first step for a producer to ensure they are breeding the right sheep for them is to have a clear, written breeding objective.
Dr Trompf said while there were many different traits producers could select for in their sheep and in ram purchases, he said these were worthless tools if sheep producers did not know what 'trade they wanted to ply' with that tool.
"A commercial farmer needs to know what they want to achieve in their production environment and the markets they want to target, which needs to be more than one," he said.
"When you ask lots of farmers what they want, they want an extra kilogram of wool, 20 per cent more lambs, 10pc gain in their weights at 12 months of age, more of everything.
"That takes you nowhere because your emphasis is spread too wide and if you chase a single trait that's no good either.
Dr Trompf said a successful breeding objective should be based on traits that the production system, markets, and consumer demand were calling for.
"When you sit farmers down to do their Merino breeding objective, the results say they want a Merino ewe who produces stacks of quick-growing lambs, but she still cuts some wool and is a good doer, but when you go into the indexes they aren't balanced like that," he said.
"There's too much emphasis on a trait that's resource-savvy and compromises a number of those other outcomes, particularly under lower nutrition."
Start the day with all the big news in agriculture. Sign up here to receive our daily Stock Journal newsletter.
