SINCE its inception the aim of the Dohne has been well-defined, with breeding objectives to improve meat, wool and reproductive traits.
With an emphasis on both meat and wool traits, the breed presents itself as a true dual-purpose sheep, which can provide an alternative to the fine or medium wool Merinos and specialist prime lamb breeds or composites that have traditionally been used in sheep enterprises.
The maternal qualities of the Dohne ewe are perfect for Australian conditions - they are survivors, resilient and fertile.
These traits of the breed are now being recognised in trials across Australia where the Dohne has excelled.
In the Balmoral Merino Lifetime Productivity trial Glen Holme Dohne sire 141077, is one of 25 sires participating.
The Balmoral site is one of five sites in the Merino Lifetime Productivity trial that will see 134 sires, 5500 ewes and close to two million pieces of data collected and analysed to explore the drivers of lifetime productivity.
These measurements include growth, carcase, wool production, quality along with reproduction data.
Based on four years of data analysed, progeny sired by Glen Holme 141077 showed a genetic increase in micron by just 0.5 microns and a nine per cent reduction in clean fleece weight, but it shows superior early maturity with an advantage of 5.9 kilograms above average post weaning weight.
The sire is also a trait leader for eye muscle depth and overall growth rate.
On the reproduction side the Dohne sire recorded 32pc more kilograms of lambs weaned per number of ewes joined in 2018 and 33pc in 2019, while it recorded 21pc above the average for number of lambs weaned per ewes joined in 2018 and 23pc above the average in 2019.
To assist people moving to cease mulesing and to assist those who have already made the change, this ram's progeny are also showing an ASBV of 0.6 improvement in breech wrinkle score (1.5 visual score) and an ASBV of 0.2 improvement in breech cover score (2.8 visual score).
In summary Australian Dohne Breeders' Association (ADBA) president John Nadin said the Dohne had performed where expected in the Balmoral Merino Lifetime Productivity trial.
"He (Glen Holme 141077) has shown to be trait leading in weaning weight, post weaning weight, pre-joining condition score, eye muscle and fat, conception, litter size, number of lambs weaned, fleece rot resistance, breech wrinkle and breech cover and leg conformation," Mr Nadin said.
"Dohne breeders would expect that there would be positive differences in breech cover, structure, weight gains, carcase traits, fibre diameter and fertility, but what is surprising is that there is not much difference in wool production.
"Given these results there is clear evidence that the greatest place where the entire Australian sheep industry can find genetics needed to arrest the decline in ewe numbers is the Dohne flock.
"When you look at the data, the daughters of the Dohne sire stand well clear of the next nearest ram in terms of number of lambs they successfully got through to weaning and when this is combined with the extra weight of these lambs compared to the average, the benefits are significantly lifted.
"When the national flock is in crisis for numbers as it is now after drought and bushfires, a very simple, rapid solution to the challenge of rebuilding the ewe base is for Dohne rams to be used widely to increase the breeding flock."
Going forward it won't only be the Balmoral Merino Lifetime Productivity trial where producers will be able to see how the Dohne breed performs against the Merino.
The association has just announced it will be conducting a sire reproduction trial at Tom and Sophie Holt's, Coonong station, Urana, New South Wales.
The Holts are one of the early breeders of Dohnes in eastern Australia and join about 15,000 Dohne ewes.
In the trial 900 pure Dohne ewes will be joined (AI) to 10 Dohne sires (including one Dohne link sire) and two Poll Merino link sires.
Mr Nadin said the evaluation would be run under the auspices of the Australian Merino Sire Evaluation Association (AMSEA) and funding of the link sires will be provided by Australian Wool Innovation.
"At the AMSEA annual general meeting in October the ADBA will seek membership of the AMSEA to give us a seat on their board," Mr Nadin said.
"Data from this evaluation will be reported within flock and across flock in the MerinoSelect and the Dohne analysis."
The evaluation will include the slaughter of wether lambs with carcase measurements recorded.
Mr Nadin said a reproductive trial of this nature (three years minimum) was very costly and as a result the ADBA council had agreed to fund about 45pc of the total cost per entry.
"We see this sire evaluation trial as very valuable for the breed and the sheep industry," he said.
"As it will provide genomic numbers, Dohne performance against leading Poll Merino link sires, highlights the reproductive capacity of the Dohne, proof that productive sheep can be bare breeched and carcase traits including yield, intramuscular fat, fat depth, eye muscle and hopefully meat to bone ratio can all be scientifically proven."
