Chelwood Farming tries flock profiling

Andrew and Kimberly Mitchell, Mintaro, who farms with his brother and sister-in-law David and Peggy, and parents Pam and John, used the tool to check where their mob aligned with others in the country.

The family crops 2000 hectares and runs 3500 head of Merino ewes on 800ha of winter grazing country with a small 30ha vineyard operation on the side.

"The sheep are able to run over the cropping area during the summer on beans, hay, barley and wheat stubbles," Andrew said.

The family mates their Merino ewes to Merino sires with an aim to lamb down in April.

"We always try to lamb 2900 in August," he said.

"We had a few early run years where we were getting an early break and we pushed about 600 into April.

"That's been getting less and less, over the last few years. They're just hard work and we have to feed them a lot.

"As soon as I cut that out, I know we'll get an early break, that's just the way that seems to work for us."

He said they tried to make most of the flock lambing in July or August.

"In our environment, it can be pretty tough," he said.

"We are trying to lamb in a bitterly cold, wet environment that is windy and we often don't have as much feed as I'd like but we manage it."

To ensure they had their genetic component right, they used flock profiling to compare their sheep's traits to those of the average flock across Australia.

"Our fleece weight is 19.5 per cent," Andrew said.

"I like to try to push that but I have to keep it in balance.

"Weaning weight 4.7pc and yearling weight 6.5pc - they are around the mark.

"We are just trying to push everything up slowly."

Andrew said the two areas they needed to work on was eye muscle and fat depths.

"In the past we have had a better muscle and fat depth, however in the last five years - before I got this profile done - we pushed heavily towards micron and wool cut," he said.

"Our older ewes probably have a higher eye muscle and fat depth, where our younger ewes probably have a higher fleece weight and a lower yearling fibre diameter."

He said the profiling was worth having done to know what improvements needed to be made and a good starting base to grow from.

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"In two or three years time we will do another flock profile," he said.

"I bought some rams based off Australian Sheep Breeding Values and ran a flock profile on those six animals and I was blown away.

"They mirrored exactly what my flock profiling showed.

"They were probably very expensive rams for me to buy because I've already got the same at home.

"I was once told not to worry about the individual animals ASVB's - make sure that as a group, they were heading in the right direction."

He said for their breeding selections, it was about a balanced animal and accommodating the market needs.

"We are not pushing any one area, we are trying to push the whole animal forward and keep it quite simple," he said.

"We are not pushing any one trait anymore."

Mr Mitchell is particularly passionate about continuously improving his sheep genetics.

Wool is a top priority for Chelwood Farming producer Andrew Mitchell, Mintaro.

He said if the sheep did not have a beautiful wool, he would not consider it.

"Whilst ASBV's can be good, I have looked away from a lot of good sheep because its wool did not suit me," he said.

"It has got to be white, bright and waterproof.

"Just because the ASBV's are right, it doesn't mean you have to buy that ram.

"If it's not for you and you buy it, you will only end up with problems."

He said when they compared their wool micron to the rest of Australia - which sits at -1 per cent - theirs sat at -1.1pc and they were happy with that.

"We did go to twice-a-year shearing but found it too expensive," he said.

"We just shear when the sheep need it."