Breed Performance
The Dohne combines high fertility (110-150%) with rapid lamb growth rates (up to 500gm per day). The breed is a highly efficient meat producer with slaughter lambs achieving market weights of 50kg at 6 months of age.
The mature body weights of ewes varies from 60 – 75kg depending on the environment and the ewes produce 5-6kg of high quality white wool of 18-22 microns with an AWEX grading of 1.
The Dohne is a product of a breeding system that relies on full progeny and performance records combined with visual classing for conformation and trueness of type by Association appointed Assessors.
This breeding system is a unique Quality Assurance program for the commercial sheep industry, allowing producers to select genetics that are backed by complete across-flock comparisons as well as pedigree integrity.
Using the Estimated Breeding Values available on each registered animal, a commercial sheep breeder has the ability to select genetics with the emphasis and performance that he or she requires for their particular flock.
The Dohne is adapted to a wide range of environmental and climatic conditions from intensive production systems to extensive arid rangeland. The breed has been developed as an easy care,
low maintenance animal with excellent conformation, combined with fleece rot and fly strike resistance.
These attributes have made the Dohne the ideal Merino breed for a self replacing wool/meat enterprise.
The versatility of the breed with its balanced approach to wool and meat production, is the breed’s main strength. The use of other specialist meat breeds as terminal sires over cast-for-age Dohne ewes has the ability to further enhance meat production in a meat dominant market, while the base flock is continuing to produce a high quality wool with a micron range that insures market acceptance.
Lamb processors have found the Dohne carcasses to meet market specifications with ease and to deliver a commercial advantage to them in that there is less need to trim the carcasses at the higher weights.