Alternative Sheep Breeds Demonstration
Cameron Weeks & Erin Hasson, Mingenew-Irwin Group Inc
The first draft of lambs were slaughtered on 23 August 2001 at V & V Walsh, Bunbury. The number of lambs slaughtered, their average carcase weights and average prices are shown in the table below.
| Breed | Number of Lambs | Carcase weight (kg) | Price ($/kg) | Value per head ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAMM |
11
|
19.3
|
3.50
|
67.4
|
| Merino |
5
|
18.7
|
3.47
|
64.7
|
| Dorset |
6
|
17.4
|
3.47
|
60.5
|
| Finn |
2
|
19.7
|
3.50
|
68.8
|
| Dorper |
8
|
19.4
|
3.50
|
67.8
|
| Texel |
14
|
18.1
|
3.50
|
63.5
|
| Dohne |
7
|
18.6
|
3.50
|
65.1
|
Skins V & V Walsh consider a skin to be premium when it has light to medium rib, good length and a large area (18kg + carcase required for the area). The SAMM, Dorset and Dohne were considered to have premium skins.
Processor comments V & V Walsh prefer lambs which are 18-22 kg and high score 2 to low score 3. They rated the Dorpers, SAMMs and Texels as the best lambs in the consignment and made the following comments on each breed:
Dorper: best lambs in the trial, mostly high score 2's to low score 3's.
SAMM: good conformation, bright meat and fat colour, fat coverage improved with carcase weight, excellent 18 kg + lamb.
Texel: strong conformation 18 kg lamb, bright meat and fat colour, in general the carcases were shorter in length and were all high score 3's.
Dohne & Merino: shallow backs with minimal fat on the shoulders and lots of bruising, very average lambs.
Dorset: conformation average, meat colour and fat were good, good smaller type lambs.
Finn: conformation similar to Dohne, colour and fat okay, hard to comment on only two lambs but they were only average lambs.
Gracefield SAMM
PO Box 726
Katanning WA 6317
Phone: 08 9821 2181 Fax: 08 9821 4240
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