2015 Newsletter

Welcome

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Kardinia Dohne Stud has been a hive of activity in recent months, and it looks set to continue as we gear up for the spring ram selling season.

We experienced a dry Autumn but Winter is turning into a solid season with good rainfall which will bring on good pasture growth when the weather starts to warm. We are currently busy tagging our current lamb drop and with our good seasonal conditions and the robustness of Dohne lambs they are certainly off to a good early start in life.

At Kardinia we are continuing to receive growing demand for all our rams and are currently finalizing our 2015 numbers to meet the increased needs of our customers. We see this as a result of the importance of maintaining and building our stud principles. These principles are the key profit drivers for high fertility, excellent mothering ability, fast growing lambs and producing sheep with good constitution and confirmation coupled with a quality 19-20 micron wool

We look forward to our upcoming ram selling season and meeting with our current and prospective clients and discussing your individual breeding programmes and ram selection and to help add value to your Dohne breeding enterprise.

 

Investing in Genetics

We are extremely perplexed with the decision by AWI to review the funding for the industry’ most progressive genetic programme suggesting that “science couldn’t teach growers much about breeding better sheep”. Visual classing is combined with Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBV’s) gives you the tools that enables you to select for better growth rate, higher fertility, improved wool quality, fat and muscle development that delivers a better eating quality as well as decreases the cost of production, use less chemicals and labour and improve animal welfare.

Australian wool and lamb are in the international spotlight simply because we are a leading and influential export nation with unbeatable quality and systems and any reduction in funding would only lead to a step backwards.

To think the Australian sheep industry won’t benefit from continued investment in genetic programmes is beyond belief. Dohnes are already leading the way with being the only breed that requires compulsory full pedigree and breeding and provides the buyer with confidence and details of the genetic tool box on each and every animal.

 

Dohne Productivity

Tasmanian clients Cate and Askin Morrison received excellent results for their October wether drop F1 Dohne wether lambs to 13-18 kg carcass weight for the “bagged lamb trade”. Cold winters, with limited grass would normally require merino lambs to be carried over winter to be shorn and fattened the following spring. They have just finished marketing their first drop of F1 Dohne wether lambs which were shorn and body weighed on 8th April 2015. Weighed again 1 month later they achieved an excellent 200 grams growth per day.

The first draft of 205 lambs were consigned early June and exceeded expectations averaging 18.4kg carcass weight with 111 over the target 18.0kg and 99.4 % fat score 2 and 3. The second draft of 518 lambs averaged 16.4kg, with the lambs again exceeding growth rate expectations with 104 were over 18.0kg. The lambs flourished on a dry grass an turnip pasture, finishing on a ryegrass paddock which included an early snow fall during May. The lambs cut an average 1.6kg of 18.1 micron wool.

Leaving on a jet Plane

It’s been a steep learning curve but our shipment of Kardinia stud stock has finally left our shores and safely arrived in Chile. The rigorous process included on farm inspections by a Chilean veterinarian before being rubber stamped by NSW and Federal agricultural authorities to ensure we fully complied with sourcing of eligble animals, testing and treatment schedules and property health status declarations before the issuance of the Health Certificate and Export permit.

We look forward to a long and successful relationship with our Chilean partners to assist their future sheep production and market development.

 

Wool finishes season up 247c/kg

The 2014-15 wool selling season did not finish on the high punters had hoped for but the market indicators still climbed a solid 247 cents a kilogram for the financial year. The 24.3pc price lift of the EMI was the sixth best result in 35 years of tracking the EMI. While demand from China has been exceptionally strong, Australian Wool supply had been limited. It is anticipated the reduced wool supply from Australia would stabilise the 21 micron wool prices through spring and then potentially retest the May high again late in 2015 or early 16. This result just confirms that Dohnes are providing growers with a higher profit margin when a quality wool clip is combined with a fast growing prime lamb.

 

Commercial Membership

Becoming a member is easy and beneficial to your business which will expose you to historical and up to date information about this versatile and productive breed. Visit our website to read more and download an application form.

 

Global Dohne Conference

In 2016 ADBA will host the inaugural global conference kicking off at Australian Sheep and Wool show (Bendigo) from 15 -23 July where commercial and stud breeders will meet from across the globe. . We invite you to join us and participate in making this event a great success. Programmes will be available at our upcoming sales venues.

Electronic Newsletters and Social Media.

We would like to move towards a fully electronic version of our newsletter which is kinder to the environment but allows us to utilise current technology including links to notable and interesting articles and information. We are mindful of not bombarding our clients with too many emails so will keep to a minimum, but we will be updating our records and confirming email details over the next few months. For further stud and breed updates visit our website www.kardiniadohnes.com.au or like our KardiniaDohnes facebook.