Paddock Sales and Events

3rd Production Ram Sale – Thursday 20th September 2007 Sale commences at 1.30pm
57 rams specially selected AA and A Rams

Download PDF Catalogue Here

July 2009                                                         

In the past twelve months since our last Calga newsletter Calga has enjoyed its normal ups and downs with rainfall for the year being 585 mm with  150 mm of this falling 2/3 of the way through harvest!

With a fantastic crop grown last year with yields of up to 5 tonnes / hectare, we started harvest at a modest pace due  to a very poorly prepared harvesting contractor from Cootamundra who will remain nameless but if anybody is considering a contractor from that region please check with me prior to signing any agreements.

Due to the rain, approximately 35% of the grain was down graded which unfortunately was common among Northern Grain Growers.

Through all the chaos of farming the Dohne operation has quietly run along without incident  with shearing coming and going with the stud ewes cutting a average 6.5 kg of 21 micron wool which is well within expectations.Lambing percentage for the year was 118% and the lambs did pretty well up to weaning, although not quite as good as they are doing this year.

The rams are coming along nicely and were classed and shorn in June this year so they will show a bit more wool length than in previous sales as in the past they have been shorn in July.

Jason Southwell who is one of the Southern appointed Association Dohne classers carried out classing this year. This occurred due to James Koster having to undergo treatment for a medical condition in Sydney at the time of classing. Thankfully James is on the way to recovery and will be doing the ram selection for the sale and cataloguing for me in August. We wish James and his family all the best and we can all look forward to seeing him on sale day.

We hope to have 100 rams penned on the 24th of September at our usual location at the Coonamble Show ground.

This year we will have for the first time progeny from the 3 rams that I bought in South Australia from the Mt Alma Stud run by Ike Ashby.

Mt Alma is a joint venture between Mt Alma and the well known Suidiplaas Stud in South Africa. The Suidiplaas Stud situated in the Bredasdorp district in Overberg region is run by the du Toit brothers. they annually join 1,600 Stud Dohne ewes. They have averaged 147 % of lambs from these ewes over the last 6 years. This is where we as lamb producers can really lift our gross margins.

These rams are a bigger plainer bodied sheep than what we have been using and I think judging by the way their progeny looked at classing time, that clients that are looking for meat production will be impressed, yet they still retain  fine bright wool.

Recently I have been reading in the rural press  about the Mulesing debate and up coming deadline in 2010. It was reported in Profarmer  recently that Marks and Sparks are to quit the purchase of  Australian wool that was been mulesed after the 2010 deadline.

They also reported that AWI, CEO Brenda McGahan and Wal Merriman were supposedly listening and taking advice from Wool growers lets hope they actually do some listening and start doing something to solve this problem.

It seems to me that the answer is pretty clear buy Dohne Rams and stop breeding wrinkly Australian Merinos!

What our Clients had to say in 2009

Charlie & Anthony Beck– Uralla - Coonamble NSW

• We are  very pleased with the Dohnes rams.  The Dohnes have been fattening and growing a lot faster than the Merino and it has been beneficial financially to our business.

• The ease of lambing suits our split property operation and we had a good lambing percentage of 112% in 08.

• With the earlier grasshopper problem it set the lambs back a bit but I wouldn't be selling the Dohnes lambs now if they were Merinos as the Dohnes are quick to recover any setbacks.

• We are excited about our F1 & F2 young ewes as they are a good frame and wool.

• With the present poor wool prices and the good lamb prices we are  very pleased to be with Dohnes now.

Malcolm Webb  - ‘Miagunyah’ - Warrumbungles NSW

• We bought our first Calga Dohnes in 2003 with the intention of increasing body weights at an earlier age and placing less  emphasis on fleece weight.

• Our flock is now F1, F2 & F3 and as we get closer  to pure bred the progeny  keep getting heavier  especially when run on Lucerne or winter crops.

• Three of the main attributes of the Dohne that I admire are the higher lambing rates, the poll gene and the unwrinkled backside which will enable us to stop mulesing after 2010 with a degree of confidence.

Jamie Searle - Tomberua - Coonamble NSW

• Again a successful year with the Dohne with the stand out feature being the year in year out consistently good lambing percents ( 90% scanned & 93% scan grown from 1% rams) and we have all

• experienced good yard and over the hook pricing.

• Interesting to see how well the animals have coped with the major rain events over the last eight to ten months with negligible fly strike and from time to time standing in a bit of water, which hasn’t upset them, showing just how robust they are in all conditions.

John Witts Munargo - Collarenebri - NSW

• Here in the North West the last year it had  been pretty good for sheep. The wetter summer saw a lot more fly activity.

• The Autumn 09 lambing was 102% on joining figures and are doing very well. Lambs are all F2 & F3, thanks to the purchase of 06 F2 Calga ewes last year. All the ewes were 06 & 07 and went into lambing in very good order.

• Due to the low wool prices, I’m working pretty hard on making all ewes productive. Scanning maidens, as well as wet & drying ewes at lamb marking, taking all dry ewes and selling. I’m finding that the dry figure can be 10% in scanned ewes, up to 20% in others. Luckily the multiple births make up the percentage.

• Also, I think we all need to keep with the fight against feral animals and pests to reduce these losses.

• Good to see the very good ewe, lamb & mutton prices, hope you all get your share of them!

What our Clients had to say in 2008

Ian Best - Baronne - Gulargambone  NSW

Our family had been breeding Border Leicester Merino lambs for three generations, but in 2003 it was decided that what was needed was a more efficient meat and wool producing flock. To avoid buying in breeding ewes each year, a self replacing flock was also important.

After researching various breeds, and attending field days, it was decided to go with the Dohnes. These sheep are larger built, are quick growing reaching slaughter weights faster with good dressing percentages compared to the first cross lambs we previously produced which tended to become over fat..

The lambing percentages are excellent despite the tough seasons we have experienced since commencing with the breed. At present we now have no Merino ewes, and have reached the stage where we have F1,F2 and a few F3’s on the ground and we are happy with them in all aspects of their quality.

Charlie & Anthony Beck - Uralla - Coonamble NSW

"After another dry trying year the Dohne F1 lambs have done extremely well, with good frames and their ability to keep putting on weight even in dry conditions.  I like the ease of lambing and am looking forward to the F2's when they lamb.’

Jamie Searle - Tomberua - Coonamble NSW

2007/08 Has been a challenging year for my Dohne flock but a successful one. With indifferent seasonal conditions the Dohne breed has continued to maintain an impressive level for production and returns. Lambing percentages from my spring drop ewes up around the 120% and my autumn drop ewes 100%. All grown lambs sold for the year averaged $87 with the exception being the last of my Merino 1^stx X Dohne lambs ,sold at 6 weeks of age over hook ,averaging 4 to 6 kg dressed ( 12 to 15kg live) for $40. This was an interesting sale as the lambs were destined for the Russian restaurant trade.  I was happy with the wool production with all wool microns between 17.8 and 20 micron, the grown ewes averaging 6kgs with the best price at auction of $6.40/kg.  I do believe the Dohne has become the animal to suit all seasons and all markets, our trading conditions seem to be changing all the time and the ability to adapt today is the difference between success and failure.

Phillip Clarke - Bin Bin Station - Kingston SA

Our ewes started lambing in May.  The F1 lambs are good and strong, however, the F2 lambs really stand out on their own.  

Our Dohne F1 ewes are cutting good wool and we have very little fly trouble with them being a plainer bodied sheep.  This could be a real bonus as the AWI appear to have caved in to PETA over mulesing.  I am looking forward to selling our F2 wether lambs as they will be bigger and heavier again.  We really believe Dohne sheep are the way to go for our future success in the Australian sheep industry.

What our Clients had to say in 2007

Charlie Beck– Uralla - Coonamble NSW
"I’m happy with the rams. We had a good percentage rate of lambing 95% - in a severe drought too. The rams are good, plain long body with bright wool. They seem to have no trouble lambing and recover quickly after. My first progeny of wether lambs made $20 more than the merinos.”

Malcolm Webb  - ‘Miagunyah’ - Warrumbungles NSW
The 2006 Spring lambing achieved 106% from Merino Ewes crossed with Dohne Rams. 25% of ewes were maiden 1st X Dohnes. We found the Merino and Dohnes both had similar fleece weights (4.2kg) at 10mths but the Dohne wool had a longer staple and was valued 20c per kg above the merino.

The 2006 Dohne and Merino lambs were run in an oats crop with no grain supplement. The Dohnes were sold to Country Fresh for $86.00 and the Merinos to Fletcher's for $45.00 The Dohnes were 3 kg heavier, but the main difference was the price per kg. The butchers will not pay a premium for merinos due to their poorer dressing %. 

Phillip Clarke - Bin Bin Station - Kingston SA
After first using the rams with our merino ewes, we noticed immediately the lambs were stronger than the straight merinos with very similar wool.

Last year the second cross ewes were obvious by the fullness of the rump with no wool differentiation.  They came through the drought a lot better than the straight merinos of similar age. We will keep using Dohnes to achieve purebreds.  We can get good money for the wool and better money for the lambs.

Gooriannawa Station - Baradine NSW
” are extremely pleased with the growth of their F1 lambs and their ‘doing’ ability. Gooriannawa Station has achieved 100% lambing this year.”

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Calga Shearing

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Production Sale Event Photos 2009

Production Sale Event Photos 2008
Production Sale Event Photos 2006