Glenaroua Dohnes lead the way

DOHNE. It's a strange name.

But it is the best of both worlds for Glenaroua’s Alistair Greenshields, despite a hurdle or two.

Firstly he was the keeper of more than 150 years of dedicated Merino wool breeding on his family farm.

But one look at Dohnes at the Australian Sheep and Wool Show, at Bendigo, and all that tradition was shown the door.

In just two crosses, the South African meat sheep, which still cut handsome medium-wool fleece weights, lifted his lamb marking from 75 per cent to as much as 130 per cent.

There was no turning back. In 2002, Alistair registered Glenaroua Dohnes at Glenaroua, north of Kilmore, as a stud.

"I purchased some in-lamb recipient ewes from Roseville Park to establish the stud,’’ Alistair says.

"I had heard a lot of talk about the breed, but as soon as I saw them at Bendigo, I said to myself: ‘Bloody hell, this is a goer.’

"The meat job was really starting to take off about then, although wool was still just ticking along.

"It was hard to see the value in focusing on pure-wool sheep when they were getting their heads chopped off.’’

It was still a big decision for Alistair and his wife, Cheryl, as his children were scattered around the world and none of them showed any signs of returning to the farm.

But in a short time Alistair, working with stepson Adam Mumford and his wife, Julie, turned his 3000-head Merino flock at Glenaroua into a high-performance Dohne commercial flock.

His second property at Gunbar, 90km north of Hay, in NSW, runs another 3000 sheep, from F1 to F3.

By any stretch of the imagination, Gunbar was a big call.

Alistair runs 2500ha at Glenaroua, as well as some irrigation country at Shepparton, which he crops.

Gunbar added a further 8500ha of station country, which he admitted with relief, was now having its first decent season since he purchased it five years ago.

"It should be running one sheep to the acre (1.6ha), but this is the first time we have been able to do that,’’ he said.

Alistair said after a decade with Dohnes, there would be no going back.

He said he still runs 2002-drop ewes at Glenaroua, which are lambing just as successfully as his younger ewes.

But for him, the proof was in the pudding.

"We have sold a lot of rams and not one of our clients has come to us and said they are going back to pure Merino,’’ Alistair said.

"The beauty of Dohnes is that from the first cross they start to deliver and with each cross, they simply get better.

"The lambs are just real little battlers. We were lucky to be marking between 75 and 80 per cent with Merino lambs and our first cross took us straight into the mid 90 per cent range. Now we’re regularly between 125 and 130 per cent”.

Alistair was just as hooked on Dohne wool. He cuts about 240 bales between his two properties and as far as he’s concerned, it’s the equal of anything he did with his Merinos.

Autumn shearing in Victoria and spring in NSW, he will move the flock to a total autumn cut for a longer staple for combing-length wool.

It has also meant he has sheep off-shears and ready for the winter meat markets at 20-22kg dressed weight.

"Although if you supplementary feed, they go out to 30kg,’’ he said.

"Our weaners cut 17-19-micron wool and the adults go out to 21-21.5 micron.

"They are a big-framed sheep, so there’s not much difference in the wool cut.’’

At Glenaroua, Alistair markets his wool as AAAM, but his Gunbar master classer who has to brand the cut AAADohne.

"Even then, I would not say that has made much difference in what we get for the wool, although this last shearing suffered because of its high vegetable matter factor,’’ he said.

With ram clients from Queensland to Tasmania, Glenaroua Dohnes will hold its on-property sale on October 25.

Alistair expects to catalogue 60 June-July-drop rams. After that, he has rams available for private selection.

The breed is also poised to help drive objective measurement in the Australian sheep industry.

The Dohne estimated breeding value database goes back to maternal grandparents – the only breed which does.

There is also formal assessment, which breaks flocks down into AA, A, B and cull grades. Culls have to go.

But perhaps the big bonus in Dohne sheep is where they fit into the mulesing debate.

Alistair said the breed has a natural bareness under the tail. He did have to mules his F1 and F2 sheep, but since then has only been tail stripping.

But all things aren’t equal, which is why Glenaroua Dohne leads the way for the breed in Victoria.