SHEARING TWICE A YEAR FOUND ADVANTAGE

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29240, 25 June 1960, Page 8

SHEARING TWICE A YEAR FOUND ADVANTAGE

RUAKURA Animal Research Station workers told farmers attending the station field day last week that shearing before lambing and after weaning had given better lambs, which were drafted earlier, and more and better wool, with the further advantage of easier management.

The scientists were reporting on trials extending over two years in a study has been made of the lambing and wool production performance of ewes shorn at various times. Results were given for the most recent season when a flock of 600 Romney Owes mated with Southdown rams were divided into four groups which were shorn (a) in July before lambing and again after drafting at weaning in December, <b) in October when the lambs were young, (c) in November before weaning, and (d)

after drafting at weaning in December. Results were said to have been similar in both years. Shearing before lambing gave a slightly favourable effect on fat lamb production. The most notable aspect of this side of the trial in the most recent season was that lambs from pre-lamb shorn ewes were slightly heavier at the first drafting—69lb liveweight compared with 671 b for lambs from the December-shorn ewes and 661 b for each of the other two groups—and a higher proportion graded Downs at this stage—s 7 per cent., compared with 49 for the lambs fropi the Decembershorn ewes, 48 for Octobershorn ewes, and 45 for the lambs from ewes shorn in November. In the most recent season the lambing percentage in the prelambing shorn ewes was fractionally lower than in all other groups, but the scientists said that

this did not tie up with the previous year when this group had the highest lambing percentage. The mortality rate in all groups was similar.

The wool results tended to be more spectacular. The ewes had all been shorn in the previous December and where production was over a full year, and therefore strictly comparable, the double shearing group (July and December) gave 9.81 b of wool per ewe compared with 9.41 b for the ewes shorn in December only. Where the ewes were shorn twice there was no cptted wool, whereas in the other groups it ranged from 0.21 b a sheep in the Octobershorn group to I.llb for the late shorn ewes. Wool Price All the wool was sold in the May sale in Auckland. The average gross Value for the wool from the ewes shorn twice was 46. Id per lb, for the October-shorn group 44.9 d, the November-shorn 44.5 d, and the December-shorn ewes 44.5 d. The advantage in favour of the twice shorn ewes was calculated to be about 3s a ewe, but after allowance had been made for the extra shearing, etc., it was estimated that the increased wool return was about ,£l2 13s per 100 ewes. The practice also made for easier management; particularly on the hill country. Next season the experiment will be continued with groups being shorn in June and July as well as in December.