MERINOS with short tails that did not need to be docked will help keep youth in the sheep industry, according to Parkdale SRS stud breeder Don Mudford at Dubbo.
Mr Mudford with SRS system founder Dr Jim Watts in 2004 took up the challenge to breed Merinos with short tails by crossbreeding four Finnish Landrace rams over 380 Merino ewes.
“One thing I have always aimed at is to encourage young people into the industry and to make life as pleasant and enjoyable as possible,” Mr Mudford said.
Short tails on Merinos helping to eliminate flystrike could help the sheep industry compete for young people able to get jobs in town or driving air-conditioned tractors, he said.
Parkdale sheep have different levels of Finn infusion, with sires allocated to specific ewe types to reduce wrinkle, bare the breech and increase fertility. Mr Mudford was trialling the joining short-tailed rams from his Parkdale Poll Merino Stud with the shorter-tailed ewes to consolidate tail length.
“We think we will get them back to about five inches (12.7 cm),” he said.
“We are working towards not having to tail dock our sheep.
“We haven’t mulesed since 2004; our whole flock is unmulesed.”
No chemical flystrike control treatments had been put on the back of the Parkdale sheep since 2004, but the ewe’s breeches are jetted before lambing and lambs get an application under the tail at marking.
The Finn infusion has given Mr Mudford lamb weaning percentages of up to 185 per cent in some flocks.
“Those lambs were 25 per cent Finn, out of first cross FinnMerino mothers by Merino rams.”
The Merino-Finn lambs could grow to a carcase weight 20 kg-plus in eight months. He said the shorter the tail on the lamb, the plainer the breech and the faster the growth. The side and under surface of the short tails were mostly free of wool.
Mr Mudford said his Parkdale Merino ewes cut on average 8.1 kilograms of 19.8 micron wool in 12 months and achieve lambing percentages of 130-170 per cent.
The wool from the sheep with some Finn infusion and with shorter tails was marketed as Merino wool and was not discounted by buyers, he said.
“To all intents and purposes it is Merino wool and it has all the characteristics of Merino wool.”
The Finn-infused Merinos with short tails cut about 6.5 kilograms of 20.2 micron fibre on average for a two-year-old fleece.
“Our aim is to get the lambing percentage up to that 170-200 per cent for the short-tailed sheep.”
Mr Mudford said he sells 250-300 rams a year from his Parkdale Merino Stud and some of clients were now getting lambs with shorter tails.
Up until this year Mr Mudford had docked the tails on all his lambs regardless of length. But this year some April/May drop lambs got to keep their tails, as did 300 ewe lambs born in August/September.
“We want to see what management issues there are with them.”
He expected the lambs’ tails would grow to about a quarter of the normal Merino tail length; long enough to lift clear during urination and defecation.
