Helen Newton Turner
Marketing systems
Changes in breeding objectives and industry structure
Other developments
Goat production
Australia has just over 137 million sheep, all woolled, of which 75% are Merino and 22% have some Merino blood. A further 3% are other pure breeds, mainly British breeds used in lamb production. Australian Merinos are of several genetically distinct strains, ranging from fine-wool (19 microns or less in average fibre diameter) through medium-wool (average 21 microns) to strong (24 microns or more). Medium-wool strains are in the majority. The main product is still wool, though meat is increasing in importance.
Management is with year-round open-air grazing on fenced pastures; there is no shepherding, but dogs are widely used in mustering and handling. Rainfall in general follows the coast, decreasing towards the inland. In the north it is monsoonal (summer), in the southeast it is less seasonal while in the south and south-west the climate is Mediterranean, with dry summers. There has been considerable improvement of pastures with sown introduced species of grasses and fertilizer application (mainly super-phosphate) where the rainfall is adequate (usually at least 500 mm). Supplementary feeding is usually confined to rams on studs, but sometimes to ewes at mating time, and to au sheep in times of severe drought.
Sheep are not run in the humid tropics in Australia, and not on the eastern coast. The Great Dividing Range runs down the east coast; sheep run on the tablelands up to about the Tropic of Capricorn, and then in an inland area following approximately the 400 to 600 mm rainfall isohyets in Queensland to the edge of the monsoon belt. They are run throughout New South Wales west of the Range, in all Victoria, in eastern South Australia up to about the 125 mm rainfall isohyet, and in Western Australia in the south-western corner.
Strains and breeds differ in the various regions. Medium and strong wool Merinos run in the northern areas and in the drier areas further south. Fine-wools are on the tablelands of NSW and in Victoria and Tasmania. Dual-purpose breeds (wool and meat) such as the Corriedale, and crossbreds are run in the cooler, higher rainfall areas. The lamb industry is supplied mainly by the dual-purpose breeds and by a system in which Merinos are crossed with Border Leicester or Dorset rams, the crossbred ewe progeny then being mated to terminal sires, most frequently of the Dorset or Suffolk bred. Some Merinos are sold as meat. Productivity increases from the north to the south of Australia. In the northermost sheep areas clean fleece weights are 1.4 - 2.3 kg per head and lamb-marking percentages (lambs present at the end of lambing) 20-50. These figures increase to 2.7 - 3.2 kg (or more) and 80 - 90 percent (or more) in the south.
Australia has a ban on the export of Merinos, instituted in 1929. It was lifted briefly in 1970, 1972 and again in the early 1980's. The lifting was only partial, sale of 300 rams being permitted annually provided they were purchased at specified stud ram sales. Various trade unions objected to the sales, and refused transport, but with government help the rams were moved. An enquiry was promised, however, and early in 1982 a team visited various of the purchasing countries to assess whether the sales were likely to affect the Australian sheep industry. The report of this team was favourable to continuing to permit limited sales, and even to extending them to flock rams (as distinct from the higher priced stud rams).
Genetically, the Merino industry has been structured in the past on a 3-tier system. The top tier consists of a few closed "parent" studs, and the second of "daughter" studs drawing rams from only one parent, and "general" studs from a number of parents. The third tier consists of commercial flocks, drawing rams from any part of the stud system. Traditionally, selection of breeding stock has been mainly on visual appraisal. This system certainly developed the many strains, and increased fleece weight markedly from the middle of last century till well into the 20th. After that a plateau seemed to be reached, and for the last 30 years scientists and research workers have been urging that further progress could be made if measurements were included in the selection process. Some stud-breeders adopted measurement, but some still have not. Since the message from animal-breeders was also that flocks would make the same rate of genetic progress as the studs from which they drew their rams, dissatisfaction among some flock-owners has led to changes in the traditional system. Visually-selected studs still exist, but side-by-side with other systems, discussed later.
Wool. Not only were sheep selected mainly by eye, but wool was graded for sale mainly by eye, being placed into some 2, 660 categories. Number of crimps per inch was used to assess average fibre diameter, the most important processing characteristic, while visually assessed staple length, percent clean yield and colour were also used to determine the grade. From the 1940's evidence from research laboratories mounted to show that crimp was a very unreliable guide to diameter. The challenge to wool by synthetics led to a realization that wool could no longer depend on unreliable grading; it had to be "true to specification" if it were to compete with accurately graded synthetic fibres.
This conclusion led in the 1960's to the formation of the Objective Measurement Policy Committee (OMPC), specially funded by the Commonwealth (Australian) Government and with representatives from all branches of the industry, from Universities, Government Departments and from CSIRO. The body was charged with investigating how to institute sale of wool on measurement. The technical work involved covered determining first what characteristics should be measured, deciding how to measure them and how to sample the wool in the whole wool-selling chain. This technical work was in the hands of the Australian Objective Measurement Project (POMP).
The wool-selling chain started with classing of wool into a multitude of lines in the shearing shed as soon as it came off the sheep's back. From there the wool passed to brokers' stores, where it was often classed again, and before sale there was considerable physical movement of bales within the store, and opening of them for buyers' inspection.
Reports issued by OMPC in 1973 led to considerable reduction in the number of classes used for grading wool. It was shown that much of the classing was a waste of effort; lines were frequently put together again when they reached the mill. A new schedule, called "Objective Clip Preparation" has been prepared to replace traditional classing, and is being increasingly used for classing in the shearing shed.
The OMPC report also listed the characteristics of importance in processing (for Australian wools) and worked out sampling and measurement techniques. All bales of wool submitted in the various categories (called "lines") by each owner are "core-sampled" with an instrument like a large cork-borer. The samples extracted are put through machines which measure average fibre diameter and percent clean yield, as well as amount and type of vegetable contamination. Grab samples are also taken from each bale and combined to form a display sample for the line, to be shown at the sale, with the measurements.
In Australia's last wool-selling season, about 96% of auctioned wool was sold in this way on measured sample, thus presenting a product more likely to be "true to label". Work is in progress to develop techniques for quick measurement of staple length, staple strength and colour, the ultimate aim being to sell by specification only, thereby saving even more labour in handling. There were great objections at first from classers in shearing sheds and from buyers, who felt themselves threatened, but the objections have been overcome and the current system is working well, backed by measurement laboratories established in all states.
About 80% of wool is sold by auction, but auctioning is to a certain extent controlled by the Australian Wool Corporation (AWC), a growers' organization but with some government representation. The AWC operates a flexible reserve price system for wool and intervenes to protect the grower. Levies are charged on every bale of wool sold, one being used to fund research and promotion, and the other to fund the reserve price scheme. Because of the profitable nature of this scheme, the latter levy is eventually refunded to the grower. Research is both on production and on processing; techniques for shrink-proofing, moth-proofing, permanent pleating and drip-drying wool have all been developed. The AWC is linked to the International Wool Secretariat (IWS), whose members are Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and more recently, Uruguay. In addition to research laboratories in the member countries, IWS has a large wool processing research establishment in Yorkshire, England. It is also responsible for promotion, carrying the results of processing research into mills in various countries.
Meat. Although the main product of Australian sheep is still wool, there is an increased interest in meat. This has led to attempts to introduce objective grading schemes for meat, which are so far not successful. The work is being handled by the Australian Meat and Livestock Commission. Some States, notably West Australia, have their own grading schemes, but one for the whole country is not yet in operation. Some progress has been made in uniform grades for live animals, but these are not yet objective. Market prices for livestock and wool are given daily over the radio during selling seasons, as well as being published in the press.
There is a growing trade in live sheep for Middle East markets from western and southern ports. Ships carrying up to 100,000 sheep call at these ports, and on-board losses have been reduced to 2-3 percent. There have been union protests from abattoir workers who feel threatened, and some wharves have been picketed, but so far no shipments have been completely stopped.
Increased interest in meat has led to an increased interest in raising reproduction rate. There has been active as well as passive selection against twins in the Merino industry - active in that one of a pair would often be deliberately killed, passive in that a smaller twin would be discriminated against at selection if its birth type was unknown. In Australia, once-a-year lambing is the general rule. Research has shown that increased twinning rate is the best avenue for increased lambing percentage, and there has been response to such selection in the Merino.
In 1954 CSIRO established two Merino flocks, one based on ewes which had twinned twice at 5 and 6 years of age, one on ewes which had singles in the same years. When some response to selection was evident, the feet was publicised through extension journals, and a letter was received from a family who had been selecting for multiple births for some years, and who offered a ram born in a set of 5. The family was the Seears Brothers, and their property was named Booroola. So in 1959 the now famous Booroola flock was added to the CSIRO experiment, founded on two quintuplet rams, donated in successive years, and twelve purchased ewes born as triplets or quadruplets.
The Seears had raised their lambing percentage to 170-180 by selecting only on the ewe side. The lambing percentage of the CSIRO flock has gone up to 220 as a result of selection on both sexes. This makes it the only fine-wool flock with a reproduction rate as high as this. Recent evidence, presented by research workers Drs. Piper and Bindon (now in charge of it) has shown that its high fecundity is due to a single gene. Crossing experiments are being conducted in many places in Australia and New Zealand, and Booroola rams are in great demand in the sheep industries of both countries.
Animal breeding research and extension workers in Australia have advocated for many years that more attention be paid to increasing reproduction rate, and that measurement of performance be used in selection. Increased interest in meat has led to more attention being paid to reproduction rate, while sale of wool on measurement has led to a break-through in the attitude to selection on measurement. Some studs, indeed, have used measurement for many years, others have not. As mentioned earlier, many flock-owners have become dissatisfied with lack of information about progress in the studs on whom they depend. Two movements have followed which have made- some changes in the structure of the industry. Some large flock-owners have decided to breed their own rams by setting aside a portion of their flock as a ram-breeding nucleus, and selecting on measurement within it. Others have formed cooperative breeding schemes.
The system in a cooperative scheme is that members send some of their best ewes to a central nucleus, which selects on measurement and produces rams for the whole group. The system may have two or three tiers, the central tier consisting of multiplying units for the nucleus. Ewes move up one tier, while rams move down one tier. Annual rates of genetic progress can he increased by 16 percent, because of the larger numbers drawn upon and the increased selection differential. Cooperative schemes developed first in New Zealand, but have been taken up in Australia, the largest being one founded very early by Jim Shepherd in Western Australia. His nucleus now influences about 2 million ewes.
There still are studs as in the former tiered system, and some of them still select on traditional lines. Many, however, are now using measurement, and May 1982 saw the formation of Association of Performance Recording Merino Breeders, on the initiative of a pioneer in measurement, Jim Maple Brown, of Goulburn, who even uses his own computer to select his rams. There are performance recording schemes, backed by computers, run by various State Departments of Agriculture and Universities to aid breeders, though none is a comprehensive as the Sheeplan scheme in New Zealand.
Irrigation is used in Australia, but only to a minor extent to grow pastures for sheep. Mineral deficiencies have been found in some areas (e. g. cobalt, copper, selenium etc). Some, such as cobalt, are countered by the administration of cobalt "bullets", which are slowly absorbed from the stomach.
The cost-price squeeze has been strongly felt in Australia, and has led to interest in labour-saving devices which increase the number of sheep which can be maintained by one man. Shearing has for a long time been done by contract, with teams moving through the country; other operations formerly done by on-farm labour are now often done by contract, such as crutching (removal of breech wool), and mulesing (removal of skin on the breech to render it less susceptible to fly-strike). A great deal of research effort has gone into investigating techniques for removing wool biologically or mechanically. Biological shearing uses a chemical which will reduce the diameter of fibres to the point where they can be readily pushed off while leaving enough staple for protection. Automatic mechanical shearing involves the use of robots. Neither technique is as yet completely successful. There has also been a move towards "easy care" sheep with fewer skin folds so they are less susceptible to flystrike; with more open faces so that no clipping ("wigging") is required; and which will lamb without assistance.
Interest in goats has increased over the last few years in Australia. There are unknown thousands of feral goats in the inland areas, many brought in originally for milk production and rendered redundant with the advent of refrigerated trains and trucks. For many years these goats have been harvested for meat, much of it exported, but they are now being caught and re-domesticated, mainly for meat and fibre.
Observations have been made on growth rates and kidding percentages, both of which make the goat an attractive proposition for meat production, and some farms are running them. A mohair industry was started some years ago with small-scale flocks. When larger-scale enterprises were wanted, shortage of Angoras was a problem. This has been overcome by using captured feral does as the recipients of fertilized ova from super-ovulated Angoras and the industry is expanding.
Some of the bush goats were observed to be carrying cashmere, the most expensive of all animal fibres. A main source of raw material used to he China, but as the Chinese are now processing their own cashmere, manufacturing countries such as Britain and Japan are interested in another source. A few farms have been started in Australia with recaptured goats. One problem is harvesting the cashmere. In countries where the fibre is traditionally grown, labour is available to comb out the down, but the cost of this in Australia is prohibitive. A shorn fleece can be sold, though at a lower price. In the meantime, attempts are being made to develop a mechanical combing device.
