'Etiwanda' Dorpers
From the August 2008 edition of Agriculture Today.
Andrew and Megan Mosely established their White Dorper stud, 'Etiwanda', at Cobar in 1999, as an alternative sheep breed that better suited their environment.
They found the Dorpers to be low input and profitable.
'Etiwanda' was the first White Dorper stud in the Western Division and continues to be one of the first White Dorper studs in the eastern States to use Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) as a tool for animal selection.
Andrew and Megan believe it is very important to have an objective measurement of the genetic performance of their sheep to ensure they are breeding toward their objective and providing clients with animals that will be productive and profitable.
ASBVs provide information on traits that cannot be assessed visually and give a more accurate indication of an animal’s genetic breeding ability.
Their breeding objective is to produce an animal with a medium frame, well muscled, structurally sound, highly fertile, high shedding and with an excellent constitution and well balanced ASBVs.
Keeping balance in mind, they also look for rams with good post weaning weights.
This enables ram clients to produce commercial lambs that meet market specifications by seven months under paddock conditions.
They are keeping an eye on fat levels and aiming for a high eye muscle depth, which relates to carcase yield (and therefore profitability).
Data recorded for each lamb are sire and dam, the number of lambs at birth, sex of lamb, ease of lambing, weaning weight, post weaning weight, eye muscle and fat depth and scrotal circumference on the rams at seven months.
Scrotal circumference is an important trait as it directly correlates to the fertility of the ram’s daughters and to the serving capacity of the ram.
The lambs are weighed at three months old when they are weaned.
At seven months the lambs are returned to the yards for scanning.
Registered LAMBPLAN scanners from Advance Livestock Services in Hamilton, Victoria, scan the 'Etiwanda' stock.
The cost is $4 a head including travelling.
Most 'Etiwanda' rams are sold before they are 12 months old but rams kept for the stud have their yearling weight recorded at 12 months.
Once all the data is collected, the Moselys submit it by email to Sheep Genetics in Armidale.
Sheep Genetics charges a $300 fee plus a cost per head to process the data.
The ASBVs are returned via email and are downloaded into the Moselys’ animal management software.
In future, the Moselys will start using electronic ear tags, a reading wand and a palm pilot for paddock and yard recording.
These techniques will save time and improve the recording accuracy.
The Moselys have recently trademarked their Rangeland Ready logo to describe the 'Etiwanda' stock.
Contact Sally Ware, Hay, (02) 6993 1608 or Megan and Andrew Mosely, (02) 6837 3797, www.etiwanda.com.au
