Thumbs up for eight-month shearing cycle

Andrew and wife Gemma, along with brother David and wife Karley, are principals of Parakeelya Merinos stud started by their grandfather on the property he selected in 1923.

They run their own flocks and sell their own wool - Andrew under the Parakeelya stencil and David under Alkira.

An early December shearing, part of an eight-month cycle of three shearings over two years, produced wool cut and staple length for the family that would have satisfied many woolgrowers had they come from a 12-month shearing.

Andrew, who with sons Matt, 15, Nathan, 11, and Lachlan, 9, stopped off at the Primaries of WA show floor in Bibra Lake to inspect their Parakeelya wool samples on their way to Dunsborough for their annual holiday last week, was rightly proud of his bright wool with a bold crimp.

"The average cut from our ewes after eight months was 5.8 kilograms," Mr Dunne said.

"The staple length was between 80 and 90 millimetres - most of it closer to 90mm - and the longest I think was 94mm.

"May drop lambs cut over 3kg a head and they were averaging 70mm staple length.

"If we had let them go a full 12 months between shearings our ewes would have been cutting over 8.5kg a head," he said.

He had 2600 sheep go through the shed in December for 82 bales under the Parakeelya stencil averaging 20.3 micron, a strength range of 47-53Nkt and an average yield of 65 per cent.

Mr Dunne said over-length wools - with a discount price and reduced buyer interest that came with them - were the reason they decided to switch to an eight-month shearing regime in the first place.

"Our wool was getting too long and we were missing out on the premium that the shorter wools enjoyed," he said.

Shortening the gap between shearings seemed to him a far more sensible alternative than trying to breed for shorter wool.

"I'd rather breed from more wool, not less, and shear more often, particularly with the way (wool) prices are.

"We've been breeding for the past 15 years to achieve big, plain-bodied SRS (soft rolling skin) type sheep that cut plenty of wool, but with an eye on dual purpose for meat.

"We got $108 a head for our weaner lambs, and we cut a couple of kilos of wool off them before we sent them away."

Over the years Mr Dunne has introduced bloodlines from Errol and Candy Brumpton's Well Gully Merino stud in Mitchell, Queensland, and the Schroeder family's Gunallo Merino stud in the Mallee district of South Australia.

"Because their fleece has well-aligned fibres, some of our sheep, when you look at them, don't look like they would cut that much wool," he said.

"It's only when you open the wool you realise how thick it is and the wool cut we got in December from eight months proved that."

Mr Dunne has just completed his first two-year rotation of shearing in August, April and December.

Running both sheep and cropping enterprises, he got the April shearing in just ahead of spraying and sowing, crutched in October before harvest simply to make the task of shearing easier, and had planned to shear after harvest in December.

"It didn't quite work out that way.

"We ran late (with harvest) and our old header was still working that last week while we were shearing," he said.

"Luckily we've got a pretty good harvest team (eldest son Ben, 17, was helping) so I could leave them to it and concentrate on getting organised for shearing."

An exceptional season for sheep - with the sale of about 100 rams boosting the returns from wool and lambs - at Beacon more than made up for extensive frost damage to crops.

"We averaged 1.9 tonnes (a hectare yield for wheat) but I cut 500 acres (202 hectares) for hay because of the frost damage," Mr Dunne said.

Andrew and his brother were two woolgrowers to benefit from a flying start to 2017 at the opening auction for the year at the Western Wool Centre.

The Parakeelya fleece, pieces and bellies sold at an average price of 955 cents per kilogram greasy.

With the average cut of 5.8kg per head, that price made the wool from each ewe worth $55.39 for eight months' growth.

Seven fleece lines sold to a top of 995c/kg, two lines of weaner lambs wool sold to a top of 1110c/kg, pieces brought 792c/kg and bellies sold for 697c/kg.

Sixty four bales of Alkira wool from the eight-month shearing were also put up for auction by Primaries of WA on the opening day.

The Alkira wool, slightly finer at 19.5 microns, averaged 1039c/kg for fleece, pieces and bellies with five fleece lines selling to a top of 1076c/kg.

Alkira lambs wool sold to a top of 1183c/kg.