Page 13 - Calga Dohnes Newsletter 2020_Flip Book Neat
P. 13

170% lambing results at

       Moama Grammar

          Danielle Garden - Primary Industries Teacher



         At Moama Anglican Grammar, Agriculture and Primary Indus-
         tries students are extremely fortunate to have their own
         school farm and sheep flock. The flock was started in 2019 with
         the generous donation on 6 Caroonboon Dohne ewes in lamb.

         The school farm and animals play a vital role in the completion
         of the Primary Industries course and Agriculture subjects
         which are offered between Years 8 and 12.
                                                             which we were very pleased with.
         “Having the sheep at school is helpful as it allows us to relate
         the theory-based learning to practical skills” said Lucy Nelson,  The school sheep have complemented classroom learning of
         Yr 11 PI and Agricultural student.                  topics such as animal behaviour, low stress stock handling,
                                                             animal husbandry, disease and nutrition. Students are respon-
         At the beginning of the year we added another 8 ewes from   sible for all animal husbandry operations including lamb
         Caroonboon Station to our flock giving us 14 ewes to lamb this  marking, drenching and vaccinating, feeding and training of
         year. We began lambing at school in May and the students   animals on halters ready for showing next year.
         from all years have keenly followed the birth of the lambs. This
         year from our 14 ewes, 13 gave birth to 22 lambs (9 sets of   The Dohne Merino breed has been great as they are dual pur-
         twins) resulting in a lambing percentage of 170% which was   pose which allows us to learn about both sides of the sheep
         fantastic, highlighting the fertility of the Dohne’s.    industry. We shear during August and students learn about the
                                                             wool and sell it through the local broker and at the end of the
         The lambs even became local celebrities through the schools   school selected stock are sold. Last year we made $360 each
         Facebook site and local paper with several articles written and  lamb which we put forward to buying the new ewes.
         published about them.
                                                             We are looking forward to another fantastic year with the
         During weekly practical lesson, students have been weighing   sheep and students are really looking forward to being able to
         the lambs to chart and record their growth rates. Most lambs   take in the regional agricultural shows once COVID is over,
         were born around the 6-7kg mark and after 1 week weighed in  especially the Australian Sheep and Wool show held in Bendi-
         at around 13kg. At 4 weeks the average lamb weight was 22kg  go.

         Drought decisions never

       easy                                                   Bill Pyes’  decision to make 2000 tonnes of silage in 2013 was
                                                              certainly a well thought out strategy.
           Malcolm & Susie Webb ‘Miagunyah’ Warrumbungle NSW
                                                              We are living in uncertain times but with a very low sheep
                                                              flock, I am sure breeders with plenty of surplus sheep to sell
                                                              will be well rewarded in the next few years.
         Our rainfall records go back to 1886 to 2019 with 910 points was
         the driest year ever, and 2017, 2018 & 2019 with a yearly aver-
         age of 12-15 points was the driest three year period ever. In
         2019 we did harvest a small grain crop and with grape marc
         and the grain produced we were able to carry our dohne
         breeders through the drought. Reasonable lambing over the
         last 3 years and selling the wether lambs as store lambs has
         enable us to join our full breeders numbers in 2020. The first
         seven months of 2020 has given us over 20 inches and we are
         enjoying a very big season at present with most of the ewes on
         oat crops, it was a tough decision to keep feeding over the last
         3 years but we are pleased we did as with the looks like a
         good lambing coming up in the spring hopefully we should be
         back in full production shortly.

         Making decisions in a drought is never an easy task, but the
         plan of carrying our core breeders though will pay dividends
         this year as I am pleased we are not in the market at present
         trying to buy quality breeding ewes to build up our numbers.
         At the world dohne conference in Dubbo, Michael O'Brien from
         Walgett stated that his theory on drought reserves was to have
         100 tonnes of grain on hand for every 1000 sheep your property
         carried, this would go a long way towards getting you through
         a year long drought, but a 3 year drought requires a lot more
         thought.                                               11 month old ewe lambs on crop at ‘Miagunyah’
                                                                Warrumbungle NSW
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