: Karbullah Poll Merinos focus on fertility, lamb survivability, worm resilience and outstanding wool quality. Image Karbullah Polls
Pushing down lamb losses to a breed leading figure of under 10 per cent is driving productivity and profitability in one southern Queensland Merino flock.
This year Karbullah Poll Merinos at Goondiwindi scanned over 140 per cent in the stud ewes (including maidens), recorded an 8.5 per cent lamb loss and marked 128.3 per cent lambs.
In last year’s 2022 drop, the flock recorded 133 per cent of lambs marked and a lamb loss of 9.5 per cent.
According to national lamb marking rate data from Meat & Livestock Australia, lamb loss amounts to 30 per cent for both singles and twins in the national Merino and non-Merino flock.
“It has been a goal of mine to achieve under 10 per cent lamb loss and it’s not easy to do. In the last two years we have blown it out of the water getting down to 7.3 per cent from 153 per cent lambs marked in 2021,” Karbullah co-principal Mark Murphy said.
“Simply it comes down to fat and muscle – that’s where energy comes from. The Merino industry has been hung up on the overflow from the prime lamb industry where fat was a dirty word, but fat is important for animal welfare, lamb survival and doability.
“When we started using Australian Sheep Breeding Values in 2003, we quickly worked out doability, fat and muscle went together.
“When muscle is lifted to create a natural balance, one of the huge benefits is lamb survival. The message is coming from producers, and it is a gauge of metabolic efficiency of your flock.”
Predator control of foxes, feral pigs and wild dogs is important to reduce lamb loss on Karbullah, along with having a ewe with a strong maternal instinct.
“The energy levels of a newborn lamb must be high to allow them to get up and go from the birth site within six hours with the ewe. Scan the ewes and run the multiple bearing ewes in the smallest mobs you can manage to boost lamb survival,” Mr Murphy said.
The family focuses on the new breeding value, Ewe Rearing Ability (ERA), and believes the trait will have a significant impact on both their and their client’s flocks.
Mr Murphy said the higher a ram’s ERA, the more lambs his daughters will successfully rear.
“Our ERA sale average for this year is in the top 10 per cent in the country (0.07 compared to the breed average of 0.03) and is validation of the years of hard work on improving fertility.
“Fertility, lamb survivability, worm resilience and outstanding wool quality are four areas we are most passionate about and have the potential to change the profitability and sustainability of the Merino.”
Mark, his wife Vicki and family run 700 stud ewes in their dual purpose SRS™ (Soft Rolling Skins) Merino stud on 3144ha at Goondiwindi, Queensland. Adult ewes average 19 micron with fleece weights of 6kg.
A total of 150 rams have been catalogued for the Karbullah on-property sale on Monday, September 18, at 12.30pm, also interfaced with FarmGate Auctions and with an open day on September 8 from 9am-1pm.
During the last few wet seasons, worm resilience has certainly come to the fore and 49 per cent of Karbullah’s sale team sit in the top 30 per cent in Australia for the worm resistance trait.
“We stopped drenching our stud ewes in 1992 and began drenching the individual, not the mob. This year the young ewes had one short active drench in January and their health status is fantastic,” Mr Murphy said.
The introduction of selected SRS™ Genetics in recent years has improved the density, lustre and softness of the Karbullah sheep, with 81 rams in the sale team testing at 100 per cent comfort factor and the contemporary group at 99.89 per cent.
Mr Murphy paid tribute to assistance from sheep classers Norm Smith and Steve Maunder selecting for softness and crimp definition.
In benchmarking Karbullah Polls against other studs, its yearling weight ASBV sale average increased from 6.6 to 8.2kg and post weaning weight rising from 4.2 to 5.9kg.
Yearling fat is 1.1mm compared to the breed average of 0.2mm and yearling eye muscle depth is at 1.6mm compared to the breed average of 0.8mm. Yearling staple length is almost double the breed average at 17.5mm.
The lead of the Karbullah wether lambs dressed at over 30kg at 10 months of age with a dressing percentage of 52, and had cut 3kg of 16.5 micron fleece at eight months.
Accredited under the Responsible Wool Standard, the Karbullah clip enjoys a premium for non-mulesed wool.
The Murphys will interface their on-property ram sale with FarmGate Auctions again this year.
“We can’t fault FarmGate’s professional attitude and assistance,” Mr Murphy said.
“Buyers can peruse the photographs, videos and performance data of the rams online beforehand. There is Classimate information on structure and wool assessments to assist the existing ASBVs, along with wool and parentage details.”
For more information contact Karbullah on www.karbullahpollmerinos.com.au or FarmGate Auctions on www.farmgateauctions.com.au