Breeding for Success
[image|91] does not existPresented by John Crawford
Principal, Rock-Bank Merino Stud, Victoria
Insight into Stud Breeding
My aim in breeding our sheep at Rock-Bank has been to breed a bigger superfine sheep without losing wool quality or coverage and for them to hold their wool and quantity and quality, character, colour and softness and micron under improved pasture conditions and on high protein rations, and have sheep with enough size for studs of different quality to use.
The ewes at Rock-Bank are classed out every year and are micron tested and fleece weighted and ranked in their separate family lines. Particular attention is paid to what progeny they have produced over the years and to what sires they have bred best to. Any sheep that lose length, character, colour and the ability to thrive are culled. Rams are progeny tested and if they have the ability to improve on what we already have, they are used until a worthy replacement son proves himself to be a better sire than his father. I do not see that it is necessary to change over your top sires every year for the sake of doing so for new genetics. Your really elite stud sires do not crop up every year. You might breed five in a lifetime if you are on track and with vision. For example, when you are breeding your stud sheep in family lines, to make sure they breed true to type, it takes seven generations to breed a purebred. And when you have reached that stage your family lines have reached their peak, I do not see any harm in crossing one of your other families into another just for one cross to give each other a bit of hybrid lift. In this way your stud will progress and not stagnate. But, a word of caution, you can only do this if your sheep are of a very stagnate genetic pool. You have got no hope if you have been introducing rams from all over the place and of different genetics and bloodlines. You must remember that sheep breed back to their grandparents. For example, you may buy a new ram of different bloodlines and strain to what your ewes are. The first cross will look a million dollars, mainly because of hybrid vigor and when you introduce another ram he may be a top ram and you will be disappointed with what he leaves you, but it will not be his fault; it will have been the first ram that you introduced that will have done the damage. In fact you are only breeding comeback.
That is why I see a studs place is to breed sheep that will breed true to type. The stud owner should structure his stud with different family lines but no more than two wool counts in variation between families so that he can interact each family when the time presents itself. You should always be conscious of breeding large groups of very even top ewes so that you can take a bigger advantage of your top sires.
You may have a top sire within your stud but not enough of the right type of ewe to take advantage of his genes. So now with A.I. you may store semen from him until you can fully take advantage of his siring ability to improve your stud.
Setting up Family and Mating
Example:
Family 1 Big long bodies, deep barrel sheep Wool - long stapled, soft, good character and well nourished lock
Family 2 Medium sized frame, good barrel sheep Wool - slightly shorter, thicker with outstanding character and extremely nourished lock structure
Family 3 Smaller framed sheep with exception wool quality and coverage
Family 4 Big sheep, very 'study', structurally sound and has all the wool quality you want.
If you have your bloodline and genetics set and breeding true to type, you have at your disposal a lot of building blocks that you can use. If you use vision and insight you can keep breeding on and produce a more outstanding sheep and when it comes to mating time, stick with the tried and proven method. Give your top sire the best ewes in his group or family and by that way you are stabilizing your type on your top sheep and will keep on improving.
With your other ewes, use corrective mating to achieve your goals and upgrade. Never mate two sheep together that have the same faults or they will multiply that trait. Bone structure (e.g. hocks, pasterns) can be easily corrected with corrective mating. Most times you will get 75% right the first time.
Wool type and coverage take a lot longer to correct. Most times, by two matings you will see marked improvement. Generally, it will take you three to seven generations to get it right and more importantly to breed on. The most important thing that a sheep should breed true to type.
And if there comes a time that you introduce a new sire, you can use him as long as he is of similar bloodline and wool type to your own, as an “impact” sire in your stud. For example, to lift the size of sheep in your stud. But if you use him in all your families it will take quite a few generations to settle them down and then get them to breed true to type. I do not believe in locking yourself into a tunnel because there is never any way out within your genetic type. By using different families and slightly different types of sheep in your stud you can always be a creator of new types of sheep within your bloodline. Another way of using a new introduced sire in your stud is to use him in one family of ewes as a corrective mating process. After all you should have firm ideas if what you want him to correct in your sheep. Use him to start up a new family and do not sell sons until you get them to the standard that you want and that they will breed true to type.
By using him in this way you will have created a new family and a new set of genes from which you can work with when the time comes when you can see your other families are peaking. There are no limits to what you can create and breed if you have vision, dedication and most of all belief in yourself, and plenty of hard work.
Never think your sheep are the best, for when you have reached this point you have lost your drive and vision and your stud will stagnate.
I consider breeding stud sheep a pleasure, but hard work and I love what I am doing. It is tremendously rewarding and fulfilling, but at the same time it has its highs and lows. I will always strive to breed for perfection within my bloodline and wool type. There is no greater feeling in life than the expectation of the next drop of lambs and their offspring. It is a never ending challenge and dream.
Nutrition, Animal Husbandry, Stockmanship
I consider nutrition and stockmanship one of the most important aspects of breeding sheep. If you are not prepared to put into your stock the right level of nutrition and animal husbandry techniques, they will never fully express themselves in ways of wool cut, bone, doing ability, wool quality and quantity, milking ability and the ability to reproduce.
You may have tremendous set of genetics at your disposal and through bad nutrition and animal husbandry techniques you will never progress.
Your ewes at joining time should be on a rising nutritional level and body weight. Yours rams should be also primed up on lupins, etc. but not over fed because overheating of testes causes fertility problems. These are some of the most important aspects of sheep breeding. Over many years of observation and dedication I have come to the conclusion that ewes at certain times of the year reach peak ovulation and the same goes for ram semen quality. I have noticed that ewes joined for autumn lambing produce lambs that are lacking in bone, wool quality and quantity, unless you have a very good spring prior to joining and a very good autumn break at lambing time. Ewes joined in the autumn and lambed in the spring produce better offspring for bone, wool quality and quantity. I think this is so because of two factors. The first factor is that ewes and rams are at their peak in reproduction of ovaries and semen, and the second factor is that nutritional levels are at their maximum. When these two factors coincide then everything clicks. Another observation between autumn and spring lambing is that the ram lambs produced in the autumn have better width horn setting and the spring ram lambs have a greater percentage of close horns. I think it is because unless you can keep the nutritional levels up on the spring ram lambs when the grass is beginning to loose its nutritional value they get a set back in the horn growth causing there to be more close horns. I have proved it to myself time and time again that by stepping up the nutrition levels of feed (protein, etc) you can overcome this minor problem.
The same thing can be said about wool quality, bone growth and wool quantity. The first fifteen months are the most important factor influencing a sheep's reproduction and production capability. This can be the make or break period of their whole life. By getting your genetics and bloodline to breed true to type you can loose 50% of this through bad management of fertility and nutrition. You should start to pick up the nutrition levels of your ewes three months in advance of lambing so that the newborn lambs have every opportunity to fully utilise their genetics. In bone and wool quality and quantity to starving the lamb inside its mother through poor nutrition the reverse will happen and you will make its wool stronger not finer. The same goes for the next 15 to 20 months. So you can see you must get the right balance and the only way to do it is perseverance, strict observation, dedication and hard work.
Lambs and Skin Types
Lambs - what to look for - i.e. birth coats, skin types. A lot of people get confused with what is a hairy, dry lamb and what is a soft skinned lamb with a light covering of soft fluffy, thin covering of hair or birth coat,. A lamb that has an excessive amount of long dry harsh hair will end up a dry woolled sheep lacking finish in the wool, harsh and will go doggy early. A lamb with a light covering of soft thin hair that rubs off when you pick them up will be a soft woolled sheep and good staple, length and quality.
Another observation I have made about lambs and skins is that a lot of lambs are born excessively wrinkly and the wrinkles appear to be hard and won’t flatten out when you push on them with your fingers. And between the wrinkles, you can visually see grease and a black, sweaty tip. These lambs grow into thick, dry skinned sheep or excessively wrinkly sheep with white, harsh fatty wool. Both types will be negative microning sheep and not hold their wool quality late into life. Regarding skin and skin types, I think over the years I have learnt that there are many various skin types of sheep within bloodlines and families. There are harsh tight skins, thin skins, very supple skins and loose skinned sheep. With this last category where these are the skins that produce quality and quantity of wool, there are varying degrees of suppleness and thickness of skin. You can have a sheep that appears plainer but can still have a very loose pliable skin that produces outstanding wool quality and quantity and outstanding staple length. Another sheep that outwardly appears to have more wrinkles or loose skin can also produce wool of outstanding quality and quantity but shorter in staple length. I think this all adds up to building tools of varying degrees so that you can create with vision and keep the balance between constitution, both skin, wool type and quantity, in harmony with your climate and management skills.
Regarding skin and wool quality and quantity, I think that if you are breeding sheep of outstanding wool quality and quantity that you will already have a good supple skinned sheep. Never forget to have a balanced animal to go with it, suited to its environment and with the ability to reproduce itself and survive. By a balanced sheep, I mean a sheep that has the body and constitution and bone to enable it to survive in its environment in harmony and produce top quality wool of maximum quantity and most importantly reproduce.
Lambing Time
At lambing time I go around my stud ewes and lambs every hours during the day and night making sure I maximise the survival rate of my next generation and new set of genetics. Lambing time I consider the most important and rewarding time of the year. Quite often you may have to deliver a lamb with its foot tucked back, or coming back to front or oversized. These are lambs you may never see develop if you have not gone around your ewes and stayed in bed with your electric blanket or drove past the paddock off to play golf. I consider it a complete waste of time joining your rams to your ewes if you are not prepared to put dedication and hard work into them.
I have heard it said by people, "Don't go around ewes at lambing, you only disturb them". I have come to the conclusion that they are not passionate, dedicated studmasters. There is now word that can describe the excitement and thrill of lambing time and the anticipation of all your years of hard work, dedication and most importantly vision coming to fruition. If you breed stud sheep and don't feel this, then I think you are only going through the motions.
[image|91] does not existIn all, my outstanding lambs have been born larger that most and have good bone and doing ability at a very early stage. I have observed that when they are first dropped or delivered in some cases, that they appear to be wrinkly when they are lying on the ground in the mucus or afterbirth. But when they shake themselves and get up and stretch themselves out they are plain bodied with loose supple skin. After about 4 - 6 weeks of good milk supply and nutrition they begin to develop the loose skin in the way of wrinkle, but when handled are always very soft and pliable. The wool on top of the wrinkles will appear to be stronger and retain runners until about 20 months of age. But the wool on the runners will always have a great lustre and softness. And from two years of age onwards will grow a very even quality fleece of wool with 95% of the runners gone. And in the case of extra superfine 12-16 micron wool, have no runners and produce outstanding wool of the highest quality and of 1PP wool type (the best quality that you can breed). And when you have come to terms with the type of sheep and skin you will realise why they have a lustrous sweet soft wool, outstanding character, length, colour, handle, with the right yolk makeup. They will produce a lock of the right nourishment and thickness and appear to have slightly cauliflower tip over the hip and rump. These type of sheep have been bred by our forefathers before us, and have not just been discovered but have been nearly lost in our stud and commercial industry through crossbreeding bloodlines and a lack of knowledge of top wool and genetics. And speeded up by the boat trade for wethers and the invention of scales on wool tables and the floor price wool that encouraged people to breed big sheep with plenty of wool. As long as the figures measured up it did not matter what it looked like. So I think we went through a period where we became complacent in the industry and only a handful of people stayed on course because they had the self-discipline, dedication and vision and proper grounding in sheep breeding. The point I am making is that you must get the balance right between practical breeding, the 'ABC's' and figures and methods that have stood the test of time. People say that the stud blokes have not their job properly, but I will point out regarding superfine sheep that the top studs in Australia have bred them twice as big in body weight and bone and maintained purity and coverage of wool and quality and they are cutting more wool than they used to: At the same time reducing micron from 18, 16, 14. 13-12. This is what I call progress!
Makeup of Sheep - What to look for and where
Nose & Muzzle: The nose should be the mirror of the sheep. It should be pure, soft and silky. The nose should be thick, large and deep indicating bone. There should be no coarse fibres showing or brown smut. It should be nearly free of wool, not boof headed or wool blind. Always remember that there is a balance to how bare you want the sheep’s nose or head, because if you take all the wool off the nose and back over the eyes to the horn base, you will at the same time be taking wool off the sheep body and underline. You must get the balance right. Nostrils should be wide and well-set indicating constitution and strength.
Horns: Should be thick at the base and well set showing strength and bone and having no black streaks, etc.
Eyes: Should be pure and free from brown spots and eye lashes should be pure and showing no sign of ginger. Be careful of breeding your sheep’s eyes too pink or otherwise you may run into trouble with turned in eyelids.
Poll or Scrag: The poll should be wide and show strength and the wool on it should be free from hair, kemp or colour. The wool covering the poll should be thick, nourished and soft, white and of top quality. The wool quality on the poll will be a reflection of the wool quality over the sheep’s body, particularly the britch end. It should not be harsh and dry. It should be of outstanding quality, colour, handle, character and thickness.
Ears: The ear should be long, thick and white with a silky soft texture. The ear is a great indication of purity and skin type. Soft, silky ears indication soft supple skin type. Pencil thin ears indication thin-skinned sheep. The ears indicate dry wool type. The ears should show no sign of brown or black spots.
Neck: The neck should be well set, with extension from withers a good width. It should have well balance folds, soft and free flowing, not tight and out of balance. The wool quantity inside the neck folds should be of good character, soft, white, well nourished, thick, of good length and outstanding wool quality.
The wool on top of the folds will sometimes appear coarse. This is okay so long as it is very soft and has lustre. The wool on the neck wrinkles should show no signs of dryness or hair and the wool inside the folds should have no colour or suint.
Dewlap: You will find that loose, supple, sweet skinned sheep will have a dewlap as opposed to flat skinned sheep.
Withers: The wither should be wide and show no signs of pointedness or devil’s grip. The wool on top of the wither should have a well nourished lock and be white, soft and well charactered, thick and of good length. It should show no signs of dryness or thin lock structure as it has got to keep the weather out.
Shoulders and forearm: The two shoulders should be well set apart, showing constitution. The wool should have a well nourished lock and be of outstanding quality, colour, length, softness, character and thickness. It should be along with rib wool, the best wool of the sheep. It should run right through to the points in quality and thickness, indicating a good underline. It should now show colour or thinness, indicating poor underline. It is a very important part of the sheep’s makeup.
Feet and bone structure, legs, etc.: The bones should be straight and sound. The sheep should have thick, solid bones. Feet and pasterns should not be splayed sideways or laid back. Hoofs should be thick and well set with spacing to breathe and let air through to stop scalding, etc. The hoof should be free from black or brown stripes.
Backline: The backline should be long, straight and square, indicating good feet and pasterns and constitution. Bad backlines indicate bad pasterns and feet. The wool should have beautiful rich, thick, soft lock and be well nourished with good character, colour, length and thickness. Over the hip you will notice a cauliflower effect on a lock of lustre and great thickness, indicating that the sheep possesses a supple skin and wool quality, great handle and possessing the right amount of yolk. The wool will carry tremendous handle and colour, indicating that it will hold its quality into old age.
Ribs: The ribs should be well-sprung and deep indicating constitution. The wool should have a soft nourished lock, and be of outstanding quality, colour, handle, length and thickness. The rib wool is some of the very best wool on the sheep.
Hip and Rump: The hips and rump should be square and rounded in structure and good extension from pins to point of tail. The wool quality will have a cauliflowered tip of superior lustre and softness, at the same time being thick, with good character, colour and length. It will show no signs of plainness, dryness or hair and should be an indicator of a sheep’s ability to hold wool quality into later years.
Flank and Britch: The flank and britch should be well set and deep rounded and draping down with loose supple skin. The wool should be thick, soft and white and of good quality, equal to what is on the body of the sheep. It should be thick through to the hocks and with look supple skin right to the toes carrying soft, white wool of good quality. It should show no signs of hair, dryness, suint or colour. On a very heavy study sheep you may find the odd runner or two. This is okay so long as they have lustre and softness. Thin skinned sheep can be pure on the britch but have no real thickness or lustre. Wool inside the flank should be thick, long and white.
Belly: The belly wool should have a good quality, thickness, colour and length. It should not be thin, suinty, coloured or show any signs of hair or dryness. The pit of the belly should be as good a wool quality as the rest of the fleece and thick.
Hocks: Should stand square and have very good wool covering of same quality and thickness of flank wool.
Testicles: Should be large, firm and bouncy and hard at point.
Skin: Should be loose and supple and soft in texture and have a good blood supply indicated by a deep red or purple colour.
General Comment: A sheep should be well balanced and proportioned and be upstanding and have personality and presence and have purity stamped all over them.
Sheep Breeding Summary
My reasons for putting pen to paper and sharing my ideas into Merino stud sheep breeding is mainly because I think we are at a time in history in the Merino sheep breeding and wool industry where if we are not very careful and do not get the balance right we will loose the ground and the tremendous gains our forefathers made in advancing our stud Merino sheep breeding and industry. They were men of vision and had a passion for what they did, and met the challenges of their time, which were many.
Just as now I think the Merino stud industry has got to meet the modern day challenges without losing ground on the gains already made by our forefathers.
And those challenges as I see them are to get the balance right between tried and proven methods and scientific information, which is becoming freely available. By this I mean the balance between micron, yield, fleece weight, CV’s and tensile strength, skin types, wool types, etc. and everything else that is going to be discovered along the way. Also, sire reference schemes, progeny trials, wether and commercial trials such as worm resistance, and skin types. Also spinning quality of wool and performance at the quality end of the market which I consider probably one of the most important aspects of our end users, the dedicated spinner and weaver, mills overseas, and most importantly our customers and the people who use wool, woollen products and by-products.
But I think at the end of the day the tried and proven methods of our forefathers backed up with facts, figures and other data as it becomes available should become one package and be balanced in harmony so that we progress as an industry as a whole, and not be led down one path because if you drive straight enough for long enough you will hit a tree.
I have got no tunnel vision between trends and methods, but we must get the balance right. The same goes for sheep of different quality. Superfine, fine, medium and strong in my view have all got their place with the industry governed by environment and individual taste preferences.
I think the environment factor is grossly overlooked. There is an old saying - “horses for courses”, which is very true. I can see problems looming at the present time between the scientific facts and figures men and the tried and proven method of our forefathers. The trendy men who are popping up and commercialising things that have been known and practiced for generations by leading stud masters. So let’s get the balance right and if we all pull together in harmony the industry will make quick progress and not be side tracked by diversions. My vision for sheep in the future is a balanced animal at harmony with its environment, producing wool of outstanding quality and quantity, with good bone and constitution.
I consider myself to be in an early learning curve in sheep breeding and I look forward to the challenges of the future. I am prepared to meet all challenges head on and with both eyes open. But one thing I know for sure is that the tried and proven method of the forefathers will stand the test of time and modern technology will come to terms with them in balance.
Wool - Producing record breaking Wool
My stud sheep and wool operation go hand in hand with each other. The top one and two year olds are run at set stocking rates. Particular attention being paid to the paddocks for water quality and soil content for dust. All trees have straw put under them prior to Christmas to prevent dust.
All sheep are classed out for trueness to type to produce the ultimate wool of 1PP type. They are tested and any sheep that do not come up to the cut-off point are culled out.
They are supplementary fed lucerne hay through to the autumn to maintain their body weight and receive two summer drenches. Particular attention is paid to feeding the hay at first light in the morning while the dust is at a minimum.
When sheep are mustered to be drenched, I always time it the day after it has rained or if this is not possible then I water down the yards. The same applies when the sheep are brought home for crutching in the autumn, always after it rains. They are drenched and put back in their same paddocks until prior shearing clean up.
About 10 days prior to shearing they are classed out for trueness to type and soundness. Then they are rib sampled and put back in the paddock.
At shearing time the yards are watered down prior to entering the shed. As each sheep is shorn, the tag number is taken and current micron is written on a card and pinned to the fleece after it has been skirted.
The fleeces are lightly packed into bales of about 100 kgs and put away for reclassing and checking later on.
The greatest satisfaction a woolgrower can have is to prepare a bale of 1PP from the choices fleeces. To achieve this goal, preparation of fleeces is paramount. The fleeces are lightly fribbed first and a second skirting is conducted to remove backs, hind legs and necks. The fleeces are picked up and shaken to remove all second cuts and fribby pieces. The fleeces are rolled up and checked for soundness, evenness of length and classed into pines for trueness to type, taking into account all the characteristics of handle, colour, bloom and character.
Growing and producing wool of the highest quality is very similar in many ways to producing the best wines. You should feed and nurture your fibre with the utmost care, and shear off when it has reached its peak bloom. This is a combination of many things, such as feed quality, water quality, weather temperature and stress levels on the sheep.
To produce the best wool possible your attention to detail must be of the highest order. There is nothing in this world comparable to seeing and handling a fibre of the highest quality in its peak condition.
Important things to be considered when setting about producing high quality wool are:
1. The market place and its requirements.
2. The bloodline of sheep needed to achieve this
3. The climate
4. The water and pasture content
5. Your own ability to sum these things up.
Wool Summary
Always remember quality should be your number one objective when producing wool and then as much quantity as you can produce. Always listen to the market place and the mills who buy your wool and their comments on its performance. The market place will give you a true picture on how you are going. Always be prepared to listen and adjust to changes
Never settle for second best.
Profile - John Crawford
· Principal of the Rockbank Ultra Superfine Merino Stud, Victoria Valley, Victoria
· Stud Classer & Wool Classer
· Wool - hold numerous world and Australian records for many categories of wool; produced the finest paddock grown bale of wool in Australia for a price of $61,000.
· Show & Sale Results - bred the first superfine ram to win Supreme Champion of Australia; won numerous Champion & Supreme Championship ribbons at the Melbourne and other shows around Australia, holds equal Victorian record $50,000 for a ram sold:
· Has judged at over 50 shows throughout Australia and New Zealand; numerous fleece show awards with the highest score being 99/100.
