Upbreeding Tips
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DAMARA MANAGEMENT UP-BREEDING TIPS FOR AUSTRALIA 2011
Industry to date offers new exciting alternatives with clean skin sheep enabling you to be free from the maintenance cycle of wool. Damara sheep offer you the potential of 150% plus lambing because of their superior maternal instinct: if you have these sheep running on improved pasture through to higher rainfall regions, this can be real production achievement.
Hair breed sheep quality has been recognized in world markets and receiving a premium because of their meat quality,flavour low fat that converts to oil at low temperatures.
Damara ewes have poly-oestrus breeding cycles, breeding lambs all year round. In cross-breeding programs with wool breed sheep select Damara genetics. This will enhance cross-breeding programs to minimize maintenance of offspring. Damaras thrive in wheatbelt conditions on stubbles during summer months. Damaras now have proven track record in pastoral areas, with higher lambing averages 95% plus, easy mustering and high rates of survival. Extreme environments such as snow, cold, high rainfall, dry seasons Damaras are amazing in because they adapt and perform.
Profitability
The production of Damaras is not simply about producing the largest animal. Even though well bred, they will compete with the best of breeds, producing the most animals in a given time, ie. Kilos per hectare. It is possible to have three drops of lambs in two years. Production profitability per hectare with reduced management costs if a $95 + profit per Damara ram lamb is assumed. All nutrition is used to produce meat rather than both meat and wool. Some producers now scan ewes after a 10 week mating period and draft off the pregnant ewes. By keeping the dry ewes with the rams until they are pregnant a higher lambing rate can be achieved. Damaras are to the sheepmeat industry what Brahman cattle are to the cattle industry in Australia. These sheep yield high meat production. More lambs survive! And don’t have fly problems like wool breeds do,You can diversify into an exciting prime lamb option at F2/F3 cross with Meatmaster Rams. It’s possible in Australia to achieve 150% plus lambing per year with Damara sheep when feeding stock good nutrition.
Damara Rams
Damara rams are very fertile and will mate 100 ewes plus, and live and work longer than most breeds of sheep in Australia. The Damara improves meat quality - tasty lean meat in any breed of sheep that it is installed over. Hybrid vigor increases body size of progeny produced from any breed. The Damara breed of sheep is thousands of years old, and hasn’t been adulterated with other breeds of sheep, thus the Damaras hardiness and high fertility bred in for survival.
Mating
Block mating also enables management to be more efficient because at a certain times you know each mob that will be lambing down and can wean them at 12 weeks comfortably. Ewes can also be wet and dried, leaving the dry ewes in with the rams to achieve greater numbers of pregnancies resulting in higher production. Some growers have found commercially to leave rams running with ewes all year round achieves higher production.
Lambing
Damara lambs are small at birth thus increased lambing survival. Less feed and nutrition is required to maintain survival rates of lambs and the ability to run large flocks of Damara females which have very strong maternal instinct. This superior mothering requires less management. Less time is spent bringing them into the yards.
Third Crosses F3
Management is the same as for first and second crosses. Third crosses are very much like pure-bred Damara except their coats retain more hair fibre. In the second and third crosses the herding instinct is stronger, females have excellent maternal instinct. Farmers have experienced crossing Damaras over their Dorper enterprise or vice versa makes significant gains in progeny with faster growth, and easier lambing. Other sheep breeds have been trialed: Wiltshire’s have been found only to be seasonal breeds, frame size no advantage. Currently Van Rooy are being trialed, resulting in a quieter handling nature through this cross being noticed plus larger framed body. Pure Van Rooy are known to have higher fat content in the rump deposit on older sheep. Note: when crossing with Dorpers best management practice is installing electric fencing to paddock.
Prime Lamb Option : Meatmaster Rams, for Damara F2 F3 Ewes
In selecting breed genetics for Meatmaster select DamaraRams with short hair coats. With Dorpers choose the hair breed Dorper that sheds its coat. This will produce easycare offspring. By introducing what is called in South Africa ‘Meatmaster’ the option is available to compete in the prime lamb market.
Now options of more choice available with cleanskin sheep breeding that can reduce containment issues by adding cross Van Rooy, now composite breed Australian Whites which are made up of certain proportions of White Dorper, Van Rooy, Poll Dorset and Texel blood. Also note these breeds quieten the temperament of the Damara and reduce horns in progeny resulting in more of poll breed.
On-property growth rate trials progeny have achieved weight gains above 45 kilos at 16 weeks. The Meatmaster can also thrive in a higher rainfall environment. 150% lambing plus per year can be attained with good management. Meatmaster info: http://meatmaster.studbreeder.com
Handling
It is important to remember when putting Damara rams in with ewes for the first time, it is best to have ewes in a smaller paddock and then install the rams. Avoid putting Damaras into a yard by themselves (one single animal) because when they are isolated from others they can panic due to their herding instinct. Whenever handling Damaras always have them at least 2 or more together.
When loading Damaras, because of their herding instinct a wider race is recommended 900mm wide with sides closed in so they can run up 2-3 abreast. If they are kept running they will be loaded very quickly. When unloading Damaras it is best to let them run into a smaller yard, letting them trickle out of that into a larger one. Damaras are happy running towards groups of sheep, because of their natural herding instinct, but when they can’t see sheep they will herd back together in a group.
Markets
Hair breed sheep are now recognized for meat quality low fat which has advantages when cooked as fat converts to oil at low tempetures which is different to wool breed sheep with lanoline that converts to harmful fats from scientific tests conducted U.S.A, Japan, China between breed meats also markets are now discovering these facts an consumers are demanding more Clean skin breed meat products.
China/America are starting to take the lead with reducing their wool breed sheep now an converting to clean skin breeds because of huge meat production increase and now consumer differentiate that they enjoy more hair breed meat productsand because of low odor when cooking meat has significantly transformed buyer habits.
New markets are emerging every month for product with flights from Australia to Malaysia of live sheep and new markets Egypt, Turkey, by ship now China.
