Ewes are heavier than they were twenty
years ago, but whether this results in
greater upkeep costs or increased profit
awaits investigation.
Image: iStockphoto
Merino sheep producers are set to benefit from the work of a PhD student examining the trade-off between breeding sheep for meat production and ewes’ maternal efficiency.
The Department of Agriculture and Food is supporting Andrew Kennedy’s study through the University of Western Australia, for which he has also received a scholarship from the Sheep Cooperative Research Centre.
Mr Kennedy said during the next three years, his work would focus on developing a better understanding of this breeding strategy and how it affected overall farm profits.
“There is increasing speculation that big ewes are not always the most efficient,” he said.
“Bigger ewes will produce faster growing and bigger lambs but we expect them to cost more to maintain and they may underperform when seasonal conditions are poor.”
The study aims to quantify the influence of selecting sheep with both meat and wool traits on the ewes’ maternal efficiency and how this affects farm profit per hectare.
“Maintenance requirements represent between 60-70 per cent of a ewe’s total energy requirements for the year and given that ewes comprise more than 60 per cent of total flock numbers, any compromise on ewe efficiency could have a significant impact on farm profit,” he said.
Mr Kennedy will use a flock of 450 sheep from Merinotech WA and Moojepin Multi-purpose Merinos to provide the basis for his modelling work.
“To effectively determine the impact of selection for growth and carcass traits on maternal efficiency it is important to understand the biological correlations between these traits and growth parameters and feed use,” he said.
“Then we can determine the impact of such a selection strategy on farm profits using models that take into account seasonal variation over a 40 year period.
“Ultimately, this information will help Merino producers make more informed decisions about their breeding strategies to optimise profitability.”
Department senior scientist and Sheep CRC program leader Andrew Thompson said the work would make a significant contribution towards understanding the true value of production and disease resistance traits.
“The average live weight of Merino and cross bred ewes has increased by 6 and 8 kg respectively since 1990,” Dr Thompson said. “Because selection indices are developed based on per head production we don’t know if this translates into extra dollars per hectare.”
Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.
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