The Merino stud where stopping mulesing was just the start

A West Australian Merino stud is not frightened by challenges and instead is offering genetics which can get around them.

Tackling challenges head on rather than fighting them has given one West Australian stud the edge when it comes to breeding Merinos.

Whether it is mulesing or climate change or carbon footprint or decreasing lamb mortalities, the Thompson family’s Moojepin Merino stud works to provide genetic solutions for their clients.

The stud is run at Badgebup in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia, with a core breeding flock of 2300 stud Merino ewes and a commercial flock totalling about 1400 breeders run on 3000ha.

The move to non-mulesed sheep was just the start of the changes for Moojepin Merinos.

The stud flock is constantly evolving and was born from a desire to breed easier shearing, easier care sheep, first for David Thompson and now his son Hamish.

“We began breeding our own rams in the early 1990s, getting our flock away from the more traditional, wrinkly sheep to something that could be maintained more easily,” Hamish said.

“The initial goal was not to sell rams – it was just to breed better sheep.”

Early breeding changes were overseen by the late Jim Watts, who imprinted the Soft Rolling Skins philosophy, and in 1997, Moojepin sold their first rams at a commercial sale.

But that client base has expanded rapidly, thanks to the willingness and open mindedness of the Thompsons to embrace change and tackle industry challenges head on.

The fleece on a Moojepin Merino sheep, where animal welfare traits sit alongside productivity.

MULESING MOVE

In 2004, Australian Wool Innovation announced that mulesing was to be banned by 2010 and rather than join in the ranks of those fighting the decision, the Thompsons decided to immediately cease the practise.

“We wanted to make sure that we were as best prepared as possible, and that we could then help in the process of our clients transition away from mulesing also, which in the end didn’t happen, but again is now front of mind industry wide,” Hamish said.

“While non-mulesed wool is now gaining a larger premium, I do think there will come a time where there will be a discount for wool coming from mulesed sheep as consumer pressures increase.”

He is honest enough to admit they did not get everything right in their overnight conversion away from mulesing, but they learned from their errors and now are one of the most established sources of non-mulesed ram genetics in Australia.

It was the one of the first key decisions the stud made in what has now become a quest to produce an animal with high welfare traits alongside productivity traits when it comes to the genetics they offer.

Part of that is being able to offer Australian Sheep Breeding Values for worm egg count, dag score, breech wrinkle and cover which they have recorded since 2016.

“These are all super important traits, as we look down the barrel of increased resistance to chemicals, but also the overall welfare of the sheep and how well they perform in some pretty testing environments,” Hamish said.

“But possibly the most overlooked piece of the welfare puzzle is that higher welfare animals reduce the running costs of the operation.

“We are spending less on chemicals and labour and in an industry where it is increasingly difficult to employ labour this is something that is of high focus for us here at Moojepin.”

Moojepin Merinos WA is looking to get more lambs from foetuses to weaning.

SURVIVOR GOALS

Right now, they are embracing the challenge of increased lamb survival, or more correctly, weaning rate compared to the number of foetuses in the breeding ewes.

“We want to convert good joining rates and as many of the foetuses as possible into live lambs at weaning, not just at marking,” Hamish said.

“There are far too many lambs being left out in the paddock – so to speak.

“Our rolling average is a scanning rate of 155 per cent of foetuses to ewes joined and we want to be able to convert this to a weaning percentage of at least 135 per cent.”

The stud’s lamb survival goal aligns with much of the work being done through the T90 industry program launched in August this year, which aims to turn conception rates of 165 per cent into weaning rates of 140-145 per cent. T90 is targeting 90 per cent lamb survival over all scanned foetuses.

“We already implement much of what the T90 program does, in terms of smaller mob sizes, higher condition scores for lambing ewes, and increased feed availability,” Hamish said.

“We join for 28-30 days, scan those ewes into early, mid and late lambers and lamb them down in groups of about 45 for twin lambers and about 150 for single bearing ewes.”

Ewes are put into containment pens in March-April to manage condition score and, just as critically, grow the important feed wedge the ewes will eventually lamb on. Pastures of vetch, ryegrass, grazing barley and brassicas are sown for this purpose.

“The addition of containment has been a fantastic tool to best manage land and livestock condition simultaneously,” Hamish said.

“What we saw is that we could carefully manage the condition of the ewes according to their pregnancy status (single or twin) and so now has become a part of our annual program.”

Moojepin Merinos WA puts condition on ewes in a containment area to manage the breeders prior to lambing, with special rations for twin and single-lambing ewes.

Once the ewes have been scanned, the feeding regime is modified according to pregnancy status. The single bearing ewes are given 500-600g of barley a day while the twin-lambing ewes are given 800-1000g/day, and all ewes having access to barley straw and loose lick, with the goal of maintaining a condition score of 3-3.3 in the twins and 2.8 in the single-bearing ewes.

“Managing condition score is vital in the final trimester, with the aim to not have the ewes too fat in order to control lamb birth weight,” Hamish said.

Alongside the animal welfare traits must come fast early growth along with high early muscle and genetic fat.

Moojepin Merinos WA is tackling animal welfare but they are also looking for early growth so the wether portion can be sold more quickly.

There is no point, Hamish said, in having to hold onto a lamb any longer than one needs to in order for it hit a processing weight, and as early adopters of Sheep Genetics Australia principals and ASBVs, they have collected data on muscle, fat and wool traits since the late 1990’s.

“You want to have the genetics which give you flexibility, meaning having the ability to get good weights into lambs even if the season is less than ideal,” he said.

“By putting a high emphasis on early growth, muscle and fat we have a much greater flexibility and greater control with what we can do with our lambs.

“I think typically you want the option to sell a lamb straight off mum at 12 weeks, but believe by seven months of age they should have left the system in place for the next generation.”

YOUNG MUMS

While joining ewe lambs is now increasingly popular at the pointy end of Merino breeding, Moojepin has been at the forefront of it for some time, with conception rates improving year on year as genetics improve.

“Ewe lambs are your best genetics at hand, so it is all about getting them working for you as quickly as possible,” Hamish said.

“Three years ago we set a target of 70 per cent conception with 100 per cent reproduction rate, and this year, we hit that target with 71.5 per cent of ewe lambs pregnant and a 98.7 per cent reproduction rate.

“We have been involved in many trials with Murdoch University, assisting with developing the guidelines for ewe lamb joining we are now starting to find, while weight is imperative, there is more going on in the genetic background that’s influencing success.

“We have certain sire lines that are scanning 92 per cent conception compared to 40 per cent for others, all at similar weight averages.

“This all comes back to the early onset of puberty and the ability to start the reproductive cycle earlier displayed as a breeding value – yearling conception.

“We also want to make sure that they can get back up in condition score for their next joining, and this is simplified by the high focus on yearling muscle and fat traits.

“Our data suggests that scanning rate actually improves by 15-25 per cent in ewes that have scanned in lamb as a lamb.

“This is an incredibly exciting part of the new age Merino and something we are deeply passionate about.

“To be able to get lambs out of one-year-old ewes and keep your flock as young as possible has massive production bonuses throughout the business.

“By reducing the age of cast-for-age ewes and the faster genetic turnover of your flock.”

With the range of complex breeding decisions going on, it’s ironic that the end result is a genetic line of sheep that are easy care and very highly reproductive.

Hamish Thompson from Moojepin Merinos in WA is determined to breed sheep that are not only productive but meet animal welfare standards and above all are easy care.

Yet Hamish said that was what helped guide their breeding decisions, which all stem back from their initial desire to run sheep which created as little work as possible.

“We want our clients to have an enjoyable experience breeding sheep and they come to us for genetics that they know tick the boxes that are important to them,” he said.

“We still have plenty to work on, and that’s the most exciting part of breeding sheep there is always something to improve upon.”