Results are in for the Australian Merino Production Trial

Some of Australia’s most progressive Merino bloodlines were put through their paces at the first evaluation shearing of the 2023-25 Australian Merino Production Trial (AMPT).

The shearing of the 2023-25 AMPT trial wethers was held at FarmLink Research’s Temora Agricultural Innovation Centre (TAIC) on Thursday the 7th and Friday the 8th of March. Fifty groups – 730 wethers in total from across Australia – were evaluated in the trial.

Craig Wilson of Redgum River Pastoral Company is managing the trial. Craig has been collecting Merino benchmarking data for the past 20 years on more than 12,000 sheep across NSW.  The benchmarking process provides entrants with a thorough picture of the genetic capacity of their Merino flock.

“It's unique,” Craig said. “You see teams of sheep standing side by side and you can't really pick the difference. This year there was a $24 per head difference in net profit between the top 10 and bottom 10 teams for fleece value. This has occurred with the same body weight, meaning that there is no penalty in terms of stocking rate or fertility by running high-value wool sheep.”

“The trial has a lot of diversity. There are 32 different bloodlines represented and you've got some of the largest wool growers in the country.”

FarmLink Operations Manager, James Holding said, “The AMPT is really focusing on benchmarking Merino genetics. There are 50 teams from across the country that are run together in the one flock. It removes all the management variabilities, so any differences you see are purely related
to genetics.”

Craig added, “Genetics has the capacity to change people's businesses. When I talk about 40, 50 and 100% difference in their profitability, it represents a massive market difference.”

“Some of these people who have participated in these trials for the first time have performed poorly. That turns out to be the best thing that could happen for them, because while a lot of them are already making money at home, we've just shown them how they can make 40, 50 or 100% more money. It's a pretty significant day out when someone can do that for you,” Craig said.

The current trial evaluates each team in two different production systems – feedlot (Condobolin) and pasture/grazing crops (Temora), and focus on the meat and wool traits respectively.

Craig said, “Last year, some of the wethers dressed at 30 kg, while their brothers in the wool trial are in the 16 micron range. Traditionally, people would think that it was impossible to have high-value wool sheep and have high-value meat sheep at the same time.”

He added, “It doesn't change your cost structure significantly; it doesn’t cost you any more to run good-quality sheep compared to ordinary-quality sheep.”

Riverina-based woolbrokers Moses and Son have been
keen supporters of the wether trials over the past two decades and have entered their own wethers into the 2018-2020 trials. Moses and Son Managing Director, Marty Moses said, “From a wool producer's point of view, the trial highlights the profitability difference across the different genetics. With our own flock, we use the trial as a litmus test to see how we are tracking against our breeding objectives and adjusting our selection to improve the accuracy of achieving our goals. We see it as a roadmap to achieving high-performing genetics.”

Marty added, “The trial is not about winners and losers, it’s about everyone gaining knowledge that enables on-farm change.”

The AMPT wethers have recently relocated to a new home at FarmLink Research’s Temora Agricultural Innovation Centre (TAIC). The facilities at TAIC will enable attendees to see the individual entrant groups at first shearing and the AMPT benchmarking process results as they happen. Recent upgrades to the TAIC livestock facilities have enabled enhanced stock handling and data capture.

Marty said, “TAIC is a really nice place to showcase agriculture; the facilities there are moving towards world class. It a great way to highlight this trial.”

Redgum River Pastoral Company has previously run AMPT trials at TAIC with great success. The current trial continues to strengthen the collaboration between the two organisations in delivering quality information to commercial Merino producers.