Dohne-cross lambs hit new high at Bendigo sales
Article courtesy of ACM (Kylie Nicholls) The Land, Stock & Land, Stock Journal, Farm Weekly
Victorian prime lamb producers, Rod and Anne Baker, Dingee, recorded the sale top at Bendigo for three weeks in a row recently, selling their Dohne-cross lambs for a top of $270 a head and an average of $254. Picture supplied
Dohne ewes are an ideal fit for Rod and Anne Baker’s mixed farming operation in Victoria, producing quality, fast-growing prime lambs that consistently perform well, often topping the local market in Bendigo.
This year the Baker family sold about 700 Dohne-cross lambs, averaging an impressive 38 to 40 kilograms carcase weight, from late May through to early June, recording the sale top for three weeks in a row.
“We averaged $254 a head across the entire draft of just over 700 10 month-old lambs, with a top of $270 a head,” Mr Baker said.
“We wanted to get them into the market before the June long weekend and luckily timed it very well.”
The Bakers currently run 840 pure Dohne ewes joined to Poll Dorset rams, along with 50 Angus breeders, and this year have sown 485 hectares of canola, barley and vetch across their 970ha property at Dingee.
“Normally we would have about 800ha of dryland lucerne in and crop the remainder,” he said.
“But we were hit very hard with the October 22 floods so we’re still trying to pull the paddocks that got flooded back into production which has put pressure on our existing lucerne pastures.
“We grow dryland lucerne really well through this area and it underpins our operation.
“While we focus on our livestock production, our priority is making sure we are growing good pastures, it doesn’t matter what the quality of your stock is, if you can’t put good feed into them.”
Quality lucerne pastures are integral to the Baker family’s sheep operation, enabling them to finish their Dohne-cross lambs to heavy weights. Picture supplied
The Baker family decided to introduce Dohnes to their operation about 15 years ago, after a suggestion from their local livestock agent Rupert Fawcett at Ellis Nuttall & Co and they continue to be pleased with the breed’s performance.
“I have just fallen in love with the Dohne breed, they are a hardy, fertile ewe and with the plain body on them they are very easy-care, I certainly can’t see myself moving away from them,” Mr Baker said.
“This year we cut $37 worth of wool off the Dohne ewes and we averaged $254 for the prime lambs off them.
“Since 2018 when the lamb price really kicked on, we’ve been looking at a nearly $300 a head return from our Dohne ewes.”
Mr Baker said the replacement cost of the Dohne ewes also offered very good value.
“If you are chasing first-cross ewes, the prices are very high, while we’ve always been able to source our Dohne replacements for under $200,” he said.
“In their first year, they have paid for themselves.”
Their current line of Dohne breeding ewes were purchased on AuctionsPlus in February 2023 from the southern Riverina region of NSW and have been joined to Poll Dorset rams sourced from the Derby Downs stud at Marong.
A flexible joining and lambing period is employed, depending on the season and how the lucerne pastures are looking.
“I quite enjoy joining away from the traditional time as it can be an advantage when we come to sell the lambs,” he said.
“A lot of people are rushing to sell their lambs by the end of June to avoid them cutting their teeth, but we still had a couple of months up our sleeves with the lambs we sold this year.
“We set a record at the time in Bendigo in 2018 of $237 a head for Dohne-cross suckers that we sold at five months-old in July when there weren’t any others around.”
Rod and Anne Clarke’s granddaughter Eadie checking out some of the Dohne ewe fleeces that returned $37 a head at 10 months of wool. Picture supplied
But this year due to the increase in cropping area, all the ewes were joined in December for 12 weeks to start lambing in May. The ewes lamb down on the lucerne pastures in small mobs of about 200 head.
Although Mr Baker doesn’t pregnancy scan, lamb marking rates average 125 per cent per ewe joined which he is pleased with.
Depending on the market, the Baker family will sell a portion of the Dohne-cross lambs as suckers in October and November, aiming for a target dressed weight of 25kg, or about 50kg live weight. The remainder are shorn, as well as the ewes, before harvest starts.
“If we can get them ready and the price is right, selling the lambs as suckers is always your best money, if I can get $200 plus for them, I’ll be happy,” Mr Baker said.
“I generally work on selling one-third as suckers and then shearing the rest and carrying them through and doing a heavy lamb job with them.”
Mr Baker is happy to sell either through the saleyards or direct to processors, depending on the best option.
“We do sell over the hook but I find if things are starting to tighten up, the market tends to lead the processors with prices,” he said.
“It is also hard to commit to forward contracts with the dryland lucerne system as we’re not 100pc we’ll get the weights by the contract date, unless you want to put a lot of grain into them.”
The ewes will graze the stubbles through the summer, while the lambs will be carefully managed on the lucerne pastures to hit their target weights. If required, grain will be supplemented in lick feeders in the paddocks to finish them.
“Although we had very good lucerne for the lambs this year, we did finish them on oats for the last six weeks at a cost of $27 a head,” Mr Baker said.
“I do focus on our costs of production and out of the $254 average for our lambs, the costs were about $40, including marking, shearing and grain, I think that’s pretty good.”