1999 Newsletter

What a great spring it has been for lambing. One out of the box! And we can’t remember when we last had a year when it did not mater if you were lambing early or late. From all accounts everyone we speak to say how well there lambs are doing and what a great start they have had this year.

This climate effect on lambs is something we are aware of, but if you are like us we didn’t know until recently how dramatic it can be.

On a warm day i.e. Min. 6° Max. 16° with no wind and no rain – lambs from birth to day 4 grow at 50-60 gms per day. From day 4 through to day 25 growth rate is 200-260 gms per day.

However on a cold day i.e. Min. 2° Max. 10°, wind 20, rain 12, lambs to day 4 can lose 150 gms per day  and from day 4 to day 25 their growth rate is only 50% of that on a warm day. So lets hope this mild spring continues – plus a bit of rain every week.

We are frequently asked about our thoughts on crossbreeding – and several new clients pose this question.

A ram breeder is probably not  the right person to answer this!

Our experience at Turnberry relates only to our Coopworth and Coopworth/East Friesian flocks.

1999 scanning results ram breeding flock 700 ewes

scanned

% lambs per kg ewe L.W.

2 tooth Coopworth ewes

198%

3.60

MA Coopworth ewes

206%

3.55

1st cross Coopworth/E.F. 2 tooth ewes

224%

3.44

1st cross Coopworth/E.F. 4 tooth ewes

223%

3.32

We can say      1st cross E.F. are 7-8 kg heavier at the 2 tooth, 4 tooth ewe stage

                        1st cross E.F. hoggets at mating are 4-5 kg heavier

                        1st cross E.F. lambs are 3 kg heavier at weaning

Positives

Negatives

–     High Fertility

–      They do not stand up our rotational winter grazing

–     Lower birthweight lambs

–      Wool/feet faults

–     Active vigorous lambs at birth

–      They are significantly leaner (might be a positive?)

–     High milk production

–      More variable in easy care characteristics

–     Good growth rates

–     Appear to be less prone to bearings

We are achieving      60-70%    lambing from our Coopworth hoggets at 35 kg and

            80-90%    lambing from our 1st cross Coopworth/East Friesian

                            hoggets at 40 kg

All of the above comments and observation relate to the 1st cross sheep. Remember the East Friesian arrived in New Zealand from a very small genetic base and we can only presume that being a sheep bred for milk production, very little selection for all the other productive traits and those traits of structured soundness, easy care etc. would have been focused on. 

However with the ¾ Coopworth ¼ East Friesian we are looking at a quite different proposition. The feedback we’re getting is all positive.

Bill Wallace on easy country at Pahiatua has just docked 180% from his ¼ East Friesian/Coopworth 2 tooth ewes that produced around 100% of lambs as hoggets as well. That takes some beating!!! We think the ¼ East Friesian ¾ Coopworth has great potential. It seems to me that for any crossbreeding venture to succeed it needs to be kept simple – the management implications of establishing your maternal breed through the crossing of several breeds, needs to be thought through very closely.

Dr. Clive Dalton in a paper presented to a recent Sheep Council Seminar made the following points. We think they are worth of consideration and I quote:

·       Why bother to crossbreed?

·       Do you have a problem that needs fixing?

·       What’s the problem? Is it what you think it is?

·       If its low production and low income - that’s a big and complex problem

·       Remember the interaction of genetics and the environment. Which bit is limiting your business?

·       Crossbreeding may solve bits of the problem but create others on the way.

·       The impact you get depends on how GENETICALLY DIFFERENT the parents were.

·       So the key factor in all of this is the PARENTS you use.

·       If you cross average parents – the offspring will be average.

·       But what about the magic of Hybrid vigour or Heterosis?

·       Remember it can be positive or negative – better or worse.

·       There are equal chances of both happening – the positive is called Hybrid vigour.

·       What you get depends first on the parents you have chosen.

·       Then you can add or subtract the Heterosis.

·       So once you have decided to crossbreed, check again that it will make you more money or make your life easier – or both.

·       If its not going to do these things – lie down till the feeling goes away!

Where are we heading at Turnberry?

We are pretty confident that in terms of efficiency, we have one of the most highly efficient ewe flocks around.

As a maternal dam breed the Coopworth ewe takes a lot of beating. After 30 years of selection we shouldn’t forget or take for granted those traits  that make our management so much easier. Mothering ability - milking ability – ewes that can count – free moving – structurely sound – High birth survival and unassisted lambing.

We believe that within the next couple of years we will be able to select our replacements from only our ewe hoggets and 2 tooth ewe age groups and our goal is to have every female sheep on the property on the 1st of August in lamb.

It’s quite clear the future lamb production will take place on the hills, as the traditional prime lamb country has moved rapidly in to dairying, bull-beef, deer and crops. So our focus will be on creating a better environment on the hills i.e. extra subdivision, improved water, improved pastures and better management. And secondly the use of terminal sires that will produce high yielding carcasses at 100-150 days.

With a high fertility flock the importance of having 60-70% of all male lambs ready for slaughter at weaning cannot be stressed enough! It comes back to the 100 day rule – that period in a lambs life when its with its mum and has the potential to grow at a rate faster than at any other stage.

The October 1999 issue of Country-Wide contained an article on the Progressive Meat Company and its founder Craig Hickson. Someone who is looked upon as an industry leader in meat processing technology. In this article he highlights the restructuring taking place with his Hasting plant to enable his staff to weigh specific cuts off each lamb. And he goes on to say - he hopes by Christmas to refine the system enough to collect and eventually pay on the yield of saleable meat from each carcass that inches down the chain.

Again Dr. Bruce Farquharson in a paper presented to this years Coopworth Conference highlighted this whole question of “yield grading” by refering to a large Sydney Supermarket Chain who took two identical lamb carcasses, cut them up into all the various cuts, weighed each cut, priced each cut and found one carcass produced $ 118.00 of saleable meat and the other    $ 102.00. From this it seems clear to us that it will be the retailer who will be leading the charge for the meat companies to adapt and incorporate new technology to pay farmers to produce lambs with higher percentages of higher price cuts of meat.

When we refer to “yield” in the future it won’t relate to the difference between liveweight and carcass weight, but instead to the value of the meat within that carcass!

Landcorp Lamb Supreme

As many of you are aware we have been fortunate to be able to enter into an alliance with Landcorp Farming to establish a flock of Landcorp Lamb Supreme at Turnberry.

The first stage of this program took place this year through ET – Embryo Transplant. 16 elite ewes selected from the ewe summaries of the 700 ewe flock were super ovulated – inseminated by AI to their two top ranked 2 tooth rams on growth rate, CT scanning and their progeny test. These embryos were then placed in recipient Turnberry ewes who lambed late July, early August 1999.

We are very excited with the potential these sheep have and with the opportunity we have been given to market a Terminal Sire that is leading the way in efficiency of growth rate and increasing the profitability of lamb production. Their huge genetic base, the application and use of new technology like CT scanning will ensure these sheep can only make giant steps forward – and you and us can reap the benefits.

Unfortunately the availability of these ram hoggets for mating next year is very limited as we only had 22 ram lambs born – but for the following year it is our intention, through ET, to have greatly increased numbers available to satisfy the strong  enquiry we are already facing.

The following are genetic trend graphs which illustrate very clearly the progress the breed is making in selecting for superior meat traits. Its been said in genetics – the quickest way to the top is to start there.

And we’re sure it has not escaped your notice with our flock of Landcorp Lamb Supreme sheep we are starting right at the top!

So we have now reached the point where we can happily answer the question many of you have been asking me about crossbreeding.

For the hill country environment our maternal breed would be a Coopworth ewe, but we would  be quite happy to have a ¼ East Friesian influence. And we would be focusing very strongly on all those attributes that make the Coopworth such a superior dam breed. The negative heterosis effect of crossbreeding is something we are concerned about! Then we would be looking for a Terminal Sire that meets all our other criteria! High growth rate so we can reach killable weights at weaning and beyond for increasing number of lambs. And a Sire whose progeny returned me a premium on its carcass confirmation and yield of high price meat – like Landcorp Lamb Supreme.

Ram Prices

Sometimes in life you have to let your “head rule your heart”. Our Ram clients over the years have become good friends and setting a sale value on our rams that reflects what we consider to be fair to all concerned and also reflects the genetic potential or our sheep is not an easy exercise!

Several of you have commented to us that we are not charging enough when measured against results being achieved on their properties and that other ram breeders are charging significantly higher prices.

This season ram prices will increase by $ 50.00.

And finally congratulations to Bill & Pauline Wallace of Makuri for winning the Tararua Farmer of the Year 1999. All those attributes of success are present in Bill & Paulines farming operation. Hard work – management skills – financial skills – enthusiasm – sound planning – setting goals – backed up by a top performing Coopworth flock.

We look forward to see at ram selection!

Bill and Simon Carthew