ANYONE can select the biggest and heaviest ram, says Poll Dorset breeder Leigh Hartwig.

"And the betting is that ram will be a single rather than a twin," says Leigh who runs the Ivadene stud at Greta, east of Benalla.

    AT A GLANCE
  • Who: Leigh Hartwig
  • What: Poll Dorset breeder
  • Why: uses Lambplan for selection
  • Where: Greta
  • Report: BRIAN CLANCY

That's one of the reasons why Leigh is fully committed to Lambplan with its ability to identify the real breeding potential of a ram whether it is single, a twin or triplet.

On figures alone, the Ivadene stud is one of Australia's top performing studs.

One benchmark for comparing studs is the Carcass Plus index based on a ram's estimated breeding values for growth, eye muscle and fat depth. That index for the 2010-drop Ivadene rams was an average of 187.

The Beattie family's Derrynock stud at Trentham East, which this season topped the Poll Dorset ram averages with a national record of $2122, had a Carcass Plus index average of 185.

Nevertheless Leigh rates Derrynock and the West Australian Hillcroft Farms belonging to Dawson Bradford as the two real market leaders in Poll Dorset genetics.

Hillcroft Farms' comparable index was 189.

With a Carcass Plus index average of 187, Ivadene has its share of trait leaders on Lambplan.

Ten of Ivadene's stud sires are on Lambplan's elite list of 150 sires a list that includes all the major terminal breeds.

Ivadene, originally based at Culcairn in NSW, was established by Leigh's father Rex in 1966 on the Kismet bloodline.

The Hartwigs joined the Lambplan program in 1992.

"We ran second with a ram in the Australian Central Progeny Test at Rutherglen, beating the Royal Melbourne Show champion," Leigh recalled.

"I thought this is great, and we ran some advertisements and waited for the phone to ring.

"Not one call. And that made me more determined for performance recording."

For those sheepmen wanting more than figures on pedigrees, the structure, body length and muscling on the hindquarters of the Ivadene rams are comparable to the best in the show ring.

Not that Leigh is into showing. The breeding and marketing operations conducted by Leigh and Rex are kept very simple.

There is no housing or supplementary feeding, except for some feeding to a handful of stud rams during July-August.

Most of the 400 stud ewes are mated naturally.

Ewes are lambed down in mobs of 40, with lambs identified to their mothers as singles or multiples.

Leigh believes identifying twins or triplets, which recorded under Lambplan's breeding value for "numbers of lambs weaned", is more important than recording their birthweights.

From a drop of 500-600 lambs, Leigh selects 180-190 rams for sale.

Until recent years 14 to 15-month-old rams were available for private sale from mid-September to the end of November. But with an increasing demand for rams for autumn joinings Leigh has moved to selling ram lambs.

In autumn this year he sold 65 head. The remaining 2010-drop of 120 were saved for the spring sales. By the end of October he had only two unsold.

Leigh said he had clientele stretching across most of Victoria's prime lamb districts.

He said most of these clients understood the power of strong Lambplan figures.

Flock rams are divided into five grades based on their breeding values, with prices ranging from $1000-$1500.

Prices for the stud or the best of his rams are negotiable. This year he sold stud rams to a top of $7000, he said.

Leigh admits in this year's buoyant ram market he might have achieved a higher price at an on-farm auction.

But, like any astute stud breeder, he recognises much of the business is also based on client servicing and satisfaction.

"At an auction you put up your best rams, which leaves your second-grade rams for private negotiation.

"Under this system, a client can ring and book a time to come and buy knowing that he or she will have a selection of stud and graded flock rams.

"They know what price they will have to pay before they leave home

"The beauty of this system is that I am able find out what types of lambs they want to produce and find those rams which match their needs, without them being caught up in the volatility of an auction."

Leigh estimates there are also savings of $200 a ram on auction and cataloguing costs.

Besides the marketing of rams, Ivadene is a major seller of ram semen and an exporter of stud ewes, all of which has been possible on the strength of the stud's Lambplan data.

Ewes have been sold to China and Israel, while local, US and New Zealand stud breeders tap into a battery of 10 semen sires at prices from $35-$45 a straw.

The Ivadene bloodline came to the fore in 2003 when a 1999-drop ram, Benchmark, won an all breeds central progeny test in New Zealand and was the leading sire in a lean meat trial conducted by processor Castricum Bros.

In 2005, a 2002-drop Ivadene ram, Bank Roll, was the second-highest ranked terminal sire on Lambplan.

More recently one of Leigh's favourite sires, which he calls 75/06, was a trait leader in 2008 on five key traits weaning, post weaning and yearling weights, post-weaning fat and post-weaning eye muscle depth.

Producing trait leaders and high indexing rams is no fluke.

Leigh, like other stud breeders who are committed to Lambplan and the production of top performing rams, regularly scans the Lambplan reports in search of a ram to fine-tune his breeding operations.

The Ivadene pedigrees are dotted with bloodlines from many of Australia's top performing Lambplan Poll Dorset studs.

This year Leigh paid $14,000 at the Perth Royal Show ram sales for a high indexing Hillcroft Farms ram, which had a breeding value of zero for post-weaning fat depth.

While many breeders have opted for a slightly negative PFAT, Leigh said he wanted a ram to correct those rams and ewes from going too negative.

Leigh said fertility and eating quality could be jeopardised by going too negative.