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Transition from wool to sheep meat – What options do you have?. Sell existing stock - purchase Dorper rams and F2 Dorper ewes Upgrade - purchase Dorper rams and upgrade the existing Merino ewe base F1 Dorper rams - appears to be a less costly option but is not viable.
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Transition from wool to sheep meat –What options do you have? Sell existing stock - purchase Dorper rams and F2 Dorper ewes Upgrade - purchase Dorper rams and upgrade the existing Merino ewe base F1 Dorper rams - appears to be a less costly option but is not viable
Consider the genetics….impacts on management F1 50/50 F2 75/25 F3 87.5/12.5 F4 93.75/6.25 No shearing from F4
Shearing vs Shedding Source: http://cashdown.com.au • When can you stop shearing? - Doper sire – 8th year - F2/Dorper sire – 6th year • Heritability of shedding - shedding score (1-5) h2 0.54 - selection shedding vs economically important traits Also consider… • Dark Medulated fibre (DMF) - DMFRS - Bale descriptions Y K R
Risks and Benefits • sensitivity - drought, price fluctuations • infrastructure • performance data - anecdotal evidence - ASBV Dorper $ Index • organic production - price premiums - product quality, supply chain, markets
References • Cloete, S. W. P., M. A. Snyman, et al. (2000). Productive performance of Dorper sheep. Small Ruminant Research 36(2): 119-135. • DPI (2011) <http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/farm-business/budgets/livestock> • Pollott, G.E. (2011). A suggested mode of inheritance for wool shedding in sheep. Journal of Animal Science: (89) 8. • Rose, M. and Bright, R.L. and Quigley, S.P. and Kleemann, D.O. (2000) Fibre Transfer in Merino Ewes Mated with Damara, Merino or Dorper Rams in Central Western Queensland. In: Animal Production for a Consuming World. AAAP-ASAP Conference, 2nd - 7th July, Sydney, Australia. • Sheep Genetics (2011) http://www.sheepgenetics.org.au/ • Snyman, M. A. and M. J. Herselman (2005). Comparison of productive and reproductive efficiency of Afrino, Dorper and Merino sheep in the False Upper Karoo. South African Journal of Animal Science 35(2): 98-108