Issue 7
July 2004
GRACEFIELD NEWSLETTER
Hello to you from Gracefield and hope this finds you all in good health and high spirit. My best ewe this year raised 10 lambs!Chris says hi as well.
What has been happening this year?
Well, we had a bit of a tour around South Australia and NSW earlier this year and would like to thank the kind hospitality we received from everyone.Saw some good sheep, not much feed, but most importantly the enthusiasm shown by both commercial and stud clients really lifted the spirit.
Let me apologise for last year's late start at the sale and tell you this year is 1pm, Friday 15 October.150 rams will be on offer, annual draft of ram lambs and for the first time 50 purebred ewes.A little later when weaned, some of our older ewes will also be sold to make way for what looks to be a terrific lambing. There will also be rams left in the paddock if required. Just of interest, ram lambs sold down to $700 and older rams down to $1000 last year so with a lot more in this year prices should become more competitive.
Thanks to all of you who supported us last year with all our sheep going to Western Australian clients. Thank you to all our visitors this year from all over Australia who were SAMMified. It's great to get feedback from our clients, with too many to mention, reporting excellent results.Must congratulate the Jensens and the Holmes for their wins in the WA Prime Lamb Competition.For those of you that don't know, a minimum of 100 lambs per entry and is a very commercial competition and well worth the $7000 prize money.
What's happening in the Stud?
We had a lot of success in the show ring this year, topping it off with Champion Ram at the Australian Sheep Show at Bendigo.Thanks to Ron, Ruth and Cameron MacPherson for their efforts.We purchased a young ram from Jeancourt which was new genetics just in the country and have trialled a little semen from both Bigga, NSW and Jeancourt, SA for progeny testing. Thanks to both Grant and Megan.
The stud has DNA tested all animals this year primarily to aid in mothering up, particularly multiples. This should assist us in advancing top performers and trace back any problems.
About the only criticism we constantly seen to hear about the breed is to do with wool.Those that know the breed, know different, however we are fighting back. Gracefield Sire 020021 was 21.65 micron as a four-tooth, 3.6 SD, 16.86 CV of D, 0.4 course edge and 99.15 comfort factor with a spin fineness of 20-38 micron.His twin brother wasn't far behind with soft, free-growing wools, but most importantly tested third top meat sheep in 2002 drop.As selection pressures increase with more and more numbers available, the breed will get better and better. You can't beat the versatility of the SAMM.
If any of you attended this year's Sheep Update conferences you would have heard that 60% of Australian lamb is now being exported with predictions for strong growth in forthcoming years.Interestingly growth areas are not only USA driven but Japan with the BSE scare taking as much as they can get, Indonesia and many European countries also. The winds have changed and growers should be able to sustain their primary sheep income from meat sales.
For stud clients' interest we have built an ET area into our shed and all work will be done on farm.By this we will tighten up on biosecurity and being in a low risk area, have been advised by Agriculture WA to do nothing.However, any Eastern States clients needing additional testing can be done as required.
We have just finished scanning the young rams and would have finished sooner if Rob and Daryl pushed faster, but I must tell you that a 14-month old ram still with his milk teeth scanned 47 EMD (Eye Muscle Depth), 94 EMW (Eye Muscle Width), 6 Fat with an EMA (Estimated Muscle Area)34.02.Live weight of 111kg.Average of the drop 41.2 EMD, 88.42 EMW, 6 Fat with EMA of 28.03.Live weight average 103.5kg.Heaviest weighted ram was 123.5kg,45 EMD, 94 EMW, 6 Fat, EMA 32.57.
The rams were shorn in February and then regulation shorn end of June.Test with 4 months wool average micron of 24. Our clip average 2003 was 22.4 micron.
This will be our biggest sale yet. As per usual there will be no reserve prices and we will guarantee our sheep to our clients if there is a problem. Lunch will be available and please stay for a barbeque and refreshments following the sale. The Stud can arrange delivery of rams to all areas.
Wishing you every success into the future.
Gracefield SAMM
PO Box 726
Katanning WA 6317
Phone: 08 9821 2181 Fax: 08 9821 4240
Email: Gracefield SAMM
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