‘Do the numbers and look at returns per hectare’

A Western Victorian Merino breeder is encouraging producers to “do the numbers” when it comes to working out the most profitable sheep.

Rob Coutts from the Ioness Poll Merino stud at Lake Bolac.

As a repeat offender buying top price rams at sales, Ioness Poll principal Rob Coutts said it’s important to do the numbers.

Earlier this spring, Rob paid the top price of $10,000 for a Terrick West ram to add to his battery, on top of a $22,500 sire he bought two years ago from Yarrawonga Merinos at Harden, NSW.

Both have gone into the Lake Bolac-based stud to produce the kind of rams that Rob would want to use in his own commercial operation.

Rob Coutts and his wife, Linda, is encouraging producers to do the numbers when it comes to sheep.

“We run about 5000 ewes and have 600 hectares of cropping, and we want to breed sheep that can produce the best returns per hectare,” Rob said.

“It’s not just about the highest lambing percentage or the highest wool cut or the greatest return per sheep – do the numbers and look at returns per hectare.”

It’s what has sent him to ram sales, to find genetics which he thinks will click with his existing flock to produce rams that can go into commercial flocks and boost returns.

“We want to bring in genetics that add to our goal for big plain Poll Merino sheep with a square stance and excellent meat and wool traits,” Rob said.

“You also have to have sheep that will do well and have longevity – I’ve got 10 year old commercial ewes in our flock that are still producing lambs and growing good wool and then would be classed out if they weren’t.”

The Ioness Poll Merino flock aims for wool and meat.

The Ioness Poll commercial flock, which measures 17-18 micron, is shorn twice a year, cutting about 4kg at each shearing or about 8kg of wool annually.

There are the extra costs of the double shearing, but Rob said this was more than covered by the extra wool grown in the double-shearing program.

He acknowledges he has a bet each way – there’s a first and second-cross breeding component of the commercial operation – but the figures are stacking up well for his pure Poll Merinos.

“We’ve probably been getting $10 less for the pure Merino lambs but we’ve had the wool cut from them too,” Rob said.

Ioness Poll also moved to stop mulesing five years ago, and with no issues with flystrike thanks to the double shearing, Rob said his Merinos had become a low maintenance enterprise.

Ioness Poll does not hold a ram auction, preferring that clients and prospective producers look over the draft of rams and are not rushed in their choices.

Visitors to the Ioness Poll display might also get to peek at the operation’s new five-stand shearing shed, which is being built.