RAMS and their reputations are forever being rammed down the throats of woolgrowers and lamb producers.

But the maternal side is largely overlooked.

    AT A GLANCE
  • Who: James Peddie
  • What: The female influence
  • Why: High quality lamb
  • Where: Hamilton
  • Report: ANDREW MOLE

And let's face it, 50 per cent of the genetic influence for any progeny comes from the female, a fact not missed by the Quality Ewe and Lamb Producers of Australia.

This group of nine producers stretches from Violet Town in northeast Victoria to Mt Gambier in southeast South Australia and any interested producers are welcome to apply.

QELPA's genesis was addressing the slow uptake of genetics on the dam side of breeding. And then tracking lambs from birth to the boning room.

Hamilton member James Peddie says the group's biggest lesson was not biting off more than it can chew, but realising how much was involved.

"Progress has been a lot slower than we thought," James said. "We thought we would be killing lambs within 18 months.

"But once we got going it proved far more complex.

"We need to be able to demonstrate that efforts to improve sheep genetics and produce high performing ewes can be realised at the end of the production chain. But we need a lot of throughput to do that."

The big question is do consumers value producer efforts to improve lamb quality, and if they do, can producers get a share?

QELPA's original strategy was to tackle the restaurant trade, but this has also been slower than planned.

James said their goal was to develop a transparent flow of information from the plate all the way to the geneticist, resulting in a market focus and breeding better sheep faster.

"Right now we are turning off 55,000 lambs annually as a group," James said.

"We are all based on industry-leading Cashmore Oaklea genetics, which are a planned composite approach to producing sheep which will fast-track the prime lamb industry.

"With this we want to be a catalyst for industry change, capturing extra value by moving closer to our consumers.

"Another fundamental lesson has been that establishing trust and understanding has been just as important as producing a better product - they seem to go hand-in-hand."

The Cashmore Oaklea flocks, run at Cashmore in Victoria and Mt Gambier in South Australia, come off a Coopworth base which has been, and still is, continually finetuned to ensure the sheep being produced remain at the forefront of commercial lamb production.

Regarded as Australia's largest, self-replacing maternal flock, it has 28 years of maternal selection.

There are 3000 lambs tagged at birth annually, and the ram production system replicates its commercial production systems.

The result is sheep with tight lamb skins, low worm-egg counts, 13-month ewe lambs pregnancy scanning at 123 per cent and stud ewes at 190 per cent.

Sheep are produced in large mobs, in hard climatic conditions, where the fittest survive and thrive.

As well as these specialist sheep, the QELPA crew has been quick to embrace technology in every aspect of its business, from electronic identification to internet hookups to hold meetings.

EID controls flock management through pregnancy scanning and weight gain, and by killing lambs together, EID provides that track from birth to boning room.

QELPA is also doing some progeny testing to give feedback to its seedstock producer.

Next on the calendar is a premium ewe sale as a key step into spreading the high-performance message to the rest of the commercial industry and increasing QELPA membership.

It will be held at the Hamilton Showgrounds on June 27 with 3500 preg-scanned ewes expected on the day.

Another Western District commercial lamb producer and QELPA member, Andy Sutherland, said the influence of the female genetics had contributed to some outstanding production figures.

"High fertility sheep are a competitive advantage and with so many people looking to rebuild after the drought, and to make the most of the market, these sheep are the ideal solution," Andy said.

"Our ewes are objectively measured and selected, scan to 180 per cent (plus triplets) and mark around 145 per cent plus.

"Our adult ewes weigh 68-73kg average and QELPA members are killing 70 per cent of trade lambs at 14 weeks off ewes, with others selling heavy export lambs at 27kg, dressed at 90 per cent with a fat score of 3.

"We run these sheep because they are easy-care animals giving high-value returns.

"It's all about more lambs with less work."

Andy said his adult sheep cut 6kg of 32-micron wool with his tops making around 500c/kg clean at his last sale.

He said the skin value on the lambs was also an important bonus.

Wether lambs about 24kg were returning as much as $30.60 and averaging $24 across the turnoff.

"These sheep are all about performance. They all lamb as one-year-olds and mature ewes lamb around 140 per cent," he said.

"We know for every condition score you increase you get 40 per cent more embryos at scanning.

"There is always this publicity about how the national flock needs the Merino to survive.

"But we would suggest that with more of these type of commercial sheep the lamb industry would be self-sufficient."

QELPA is undeniably a coalition of passion.

Everything leads to the dream of establishing QELPA as a quality and value-adding brand within the industry.

"We hope buyers at our June 27 sale see what we are doing, and want to join us," James said.