Page 3 - Calga Dohnes Newsletter 2020_Flip Book Neat

Drought & COVID back to take up permanent residence at Calga. Its been great to

Margie Pye Calga Station have family back at Calga permanently. Georgie my daughter
has some news, becoming recently engaged to long time boy-
friend Derrym early this year, with no wedding plans confirmed
Another annual newsletter in a year that has filled us with a lot again due to virus.
of uncertainty! The latter half of 2019 remained dry for us at our
Coonamble and Wanganella properties. Three & a half years of Special thanks to all that have contributed to this annual news-
drought was taking its toll on our feed reserves, our livestock letter and those that graciously accept my request to contribute
stocking rates, machinery and our staff. We made the decision every year, We have a few new contributors to this years publi-
to develop a drought containment area at Calga for our stud cation which is fantastic for our readers and for myself as the
ewes to ease the pressure on machinery, vehicles & staff. The editor.
infrastructure would also assist and improve animal welfare
conditions. With knowledge gained from the 4,000 head feedlot We wouldn't have a business without our clients that support
infrastructure set up in 2015 at our Caroonboon Station, Wan- our sales each year; with some that have been using our genet-
ganella, we constructed 12 pens averaging 50m X 120m, with ics for 20 years which is confirmation of the product.
each pen able to hold up to minimum 200 sheep per pen. The
chosen area had the shade requirements, adjoining sheep My family thank our staff Stuart, Damian, Sandy at Calga. & Ste-
yards, adjoining grazing paddocks, piped water and close to vo, Jeremy & Jack at Caroonboon. Anna, Vicki our Caroonboon
2019 silage pits. The ewes went into the feedlot for a successful ladies, thanks for your help with catering at our southern sales.
joining, scanning in lamb at 140%. With the heavens opening Thank you to our stud advisory team Jason Southwell, Allan
with good falls of rain in early February we were able to shut Clarke & Bill Mildren for their hard work and support they given
down the feedlot and ewes were put out to natural pasture. us the last 12 months. Its been challenging for everyone and we
Lambmarking across the two properties was pleasing with the are glad you have been on board with us.
Studs at Calga averaging 111% and commercials at Caroonboon
131% . We hope the season has permanently broken for all, for us to
replenish the bank account & to enjoy a lot less stress in our
Our wool test results for the 2019 drop stud animals averaged a lives. My family, classing team & staff look forward to catching
19.6 FD, 99.2% CF and 5.4 GFW in data. The wool clip test results up with you at one of our sales .
further confirmed those results testing 19.3 FD and a 99.2% CF.

After easing out of drought in February March and then straight Values for surplus sheep
into COVID restrictions, the economic & health conditions has
certainly created a lot of angst for livestock producers to sell exceptional
their product and for us as suppliers of genetics to NSW and
interstate to be able to service our clients. We are now just 7
weeks out from our second Caroonboon Merino ram sale on the
8th September, with COVID hanging over us it is unsure wheth- Even though the past twelve months have been trying for all of
er the sale will be on site or online. With the unprecedented us the clients who have continued to use Dohne rams have
times for all ram clients, all our sale arrangements will be reported a very profitable return. The ability of the Dohne to
confirmed nearer to the date. thrive in less than ideal conditions has seen them come
through the year in reasonable condition and wean good num-
In March the Moama Grammar School took delivery of 8 Ca- bers of lambs. The survival rates were exceptional considering
roonboon Dohne Special ewes scanned in lamb. These ewes how devastating a season they had to withstand. This has been
were added to the start up flock of 6 ewes donated by Caroon- without a doubt the worst season I have experienced in my 60
boon Station to the school in 2019 Primary Industries Coordina- years in the industry.
tor Danielle Gardens update on lambing results and the Ca- Clients have also received exceptional value for the sale of
roonboon bloodline that is now the back bone of their flock has their surplus sheep and this has proved a boon for graziers in
been included in this newsletter. an otherwise ordinary year, making it more than worthwhile to
continue to feed stock through to the break. The stock prices
The decision to take on the Caroonboon Merino Stud from the received by Dohne breeders have compared more than favora-
previous owner Jim Dickson in 2018 has certainly been a posi- bly with the results of other breeds and have proven that the
tive one with our first ever merino ram sold Caroonboon James Dohne still has an important role to play in the domestic sheep
1395 selling for $18,000 at the Classings Murray Bridge SA Invi- market in Australia.
tational Sale in early September 2019. With over 150 merino
rams sold and supply exhausted we have been very pleased
with the decision to bring the stud back to its birthplace Ca-
roonboon Station. Pending on COVID restrictions we have 3
rams entered in the Classings Sale Murray Bridge SA on the 7th
September. Caroonboon will start the sale due to achieving the
highest average in 2019 and only $2,000 less than the top price
ram.

We have no shows or ribbons to report on in later 2019 & 2020
due to COVID lockdown. Most of our outings in the last year
have been to drought information w/shops, feed lotting, how to
build them, what and when to feed, how long and lamb nutrition
etc . The information supplied a total necessity and a game
changer to our region and the conditions we were experiencing.

A positive to the rip-roaring drought we have long endured, The Pastoralist Review 1907 - The first wool teams leaving
last November my son Sandy and his girlfriend Holly arrived from Calga