VICTORIAN sheep producers Ricky and Marni Luhrs yesterday felt validated at LambEx 2024 for more ten years of breeding modern dual purpose Poll Merinos for meat, wool and welfare.

The Luhr’s Mooralla Poll Merino/Yama Trust entry yesterday won the the first AMPC LambEx Feedlot Carcase Competition overall top performing lamb producer category at LambEx among 1500 lambs from 16 breeds and 30 breeders from South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.

The competition is believed to be the largest Meats Standards Australia cuts-based comparison of commercial lambs ever held.

Second and third place in the category was taken by fellow non-mulesed Poll Merino and Hampshire breeders Deane and Henry Goode with their Barooka Trading Trust entries. The Goode’s were not sure which of their placed entries were pure Merino or Hampshire Merino crosses.

Time for change on processor grids

However, the dominance of Poll Merino and Merino cross entries in the competition’s results has encouraged some producers to again call time on processors continued discounting of high eating quality Merino lambs on carcase grids.

The Luhrs took the top producer award with late June 2023 drop wether lambs taken from the drop’s bottom 30 percent, after sending the rest of the lambs away on a grid with an 80-cent discount to the equivalent weight crossbred lamb price.

The Mooralla lambs also weighed in at the bottom of the competition’s induction weight range of 35-42kgs, Ricky said.

“They were obviously a good commercial draft of the bottom 30 percent of our wethers,” Ricky said.

The highest MSA sheepmeat index lamb team in the competition were a Barooka Trading Trust entry, with G.W. and C.l. Clothier and Sons second and the Yama Trust in third place.

The Barooka Trading Trust’s lambs also entered the first and second placed overall highest carcase performing lambs, followed by Yama Trust in third place.

Ricky Luhrs said the win was “awesome” personally.

“Ten years of breeding, following the breeding objective and doing trials.”

“For the industry, I think it’s great for Merinos, the right type of Merino

But Mr Luhrs said the competition’s results mean processors need to look at ending the grid discounts for quality Merino lambs.

“Well and truly – there are a lot of good quality Merinos out there that should be rewarded for the animal being a good lamb, not because of its breed.

“It’s clear now, we’ve got the public evidence, and personally because we’ve done the trials and our relationship with Trigger Vale,” he said.

Ricky said he has just sold 1500 tail-end breeding ewe lambs to a processor on the Monday before Lambex due to cashflow pressures and to buy grain. They had averaged 230gms a day on feed during June and July.

“They killed out at 24.9kg dead, with an average fat score of 3.5.

“We got $7.80 a kg for them, which sounds really good, but the crossbred grid on the same day was $8.20,” Ricky said.

“And then we come here and we’ve won the LeambEx feedlot trial, I’ve just done a 10-week Winter feed on my ewe lambs for cashflow and I’ve still got a 40-cent discount on a product that hit terminal grids – so it’s quite depressing.

“The modern Merino bred right for shape and carcase, it doesn’t get too fat – and it’s got great IMF.”

Across their two properties near Mooralla in western Victoria, the Luhrs run about 5000 Merinos, joined to Merino and terminal sires. The flock includes 400–500 ewes in the Mooralla Poll Stud, a daughter stud of Trigger Vale Merinos. The dual purpose non-mulesed flock’s micron average is 19 micron, the sheep are shorn three times in two years and the wool is marketed through New Zealand Merino under contract.

The Luhrs’ stud is a daughter stud of Andrew and Mandi Bouffler’s non-mulesed Trigger Vale Poll Merino stud which has had a focus on performance since 2005. Mr Bouffler said the Luhrs’ win represented the result of 30-40 years breeding, including eating quality trials by the two studs over the last 10 years through processors and Meat & Livestock Australia’s Fast-Track program.

“It is not just a random thing, it’s part of an intense breeding program.

“We need a Merino now that can put quality product into both markets – meat and wool,” he said.

“It’s an extraordinary story for me – I’m completely pumped after getting 30-40 years of work validated there.”

Feedlot scoring was based 25 percent on meeting the induction weight, 10pc on fleece and 65pc on average daily gain. Processing scoring was weighted 30pc on reaching the 22-30kg cwt range, 20pc on lean meat yield over 56pc, 10pc on reaching a fat score of 6-20mm and 40pc on reaching the MSA Index >59- 4 star loin. Final score were then weighted 30pc on feedlot performance and 70pc on carcase.

The groups of 50 vendor-bred 2023 drop woolly lambs were delivered in 1 December 2023 to the Thornby Feedlot and fed for 70 days before processing at TFI Stawell.

The highest feedlot average daily gain lamb team came from Cazna Park Dormers, with Wayne Pech’s North Stirling Downs team second and Hamish Ellis’ Manyondah Pastoral Trust team third.

The most valuable lamb team on wool clip came from Hansi Graetz’s Pepper Well Partners Poll Merino team, with Anna-Lisa Newman’s Karradale Trading Poll Merino team second and the Merino team from Neville Jacka of Allan C. Jacka and Sons.

The overall highest feedlot performing team was the Texel-Merino lambs from Sam Stopp, Stopp Family Trust at Keith.

“Nice,” Sam Stopp said after hearing the results.

“Amazing — I’m so excited and I’ve been excited since we first put the Texels in,” she said.

“I wanted to see where this breed would take us, because the family has always used Suffolks and I did a lot of research on the Texel breed and I thought these look amazing and they will do so well crossed over a Merino for our prime lamb,” she said.

“We’re on the right path I think.”

Thomas Foods International’s farm assurance and supply chain manager Mark Inglis said the key thing about the Luhrs entry was that the lambs did not grade on the extreme end of the judging criteria.

The Luhrs lambs were good average “middle of the road” performers across the growth rate or the eating quality criteria, plus the wool return, he said.

“He might not have been topping each criteria, but he was up there all the whole way through.”

Pay crossbred prices or better

Deane Goode said the competition results validated the value of his Glendemar blood Poll Merino and Hampshire-Merino cross entries.

“It’s the Merinos that we’re particularly happy with; I mean Ricky Luhrs is all Merino, we’re all Merino except one of the teams had Hampy in it.

“To beat the masses with Merinos it should put a rocket in the industry,” he said.

“They (the processors) should be able to now pay crossbred price or better, but there is such negativity about Merinos.

“All kudos to Glendemar really, we’ve just really been following along behind.”

Not time to end discounting yet

When asked if the days were over that processors with the tools to measure lean meat yield and intramuscular fat could discount quality Merino lambs, TFI’s Jack Thomas said “not necessarily.”

“It’s obviously very early days and the competition, although it was successful it was from a very small sample and of course you are going to be drawing in some of your very top-level producers.

“And the competition was measuring, which we are not able to sell onto and primarly when you are talking about the general picture of Merino lambs you are talking smaller eye muscles and smaller primals, which means small returns for us,” he said.

Mr Thomas for TFI Stawell to measure IMF with the MEQ Probe for the competition, the processor has to slow down the chain and slow down the process.

“But we are developing and the technology is improved to be able to keep up with where we are, so that is something to look forward to.”

When asked if he saw a day when quality merinos would not be discounted on grids, he said: “I think you will see a day when you will be paid on the entire carcase and no matter the breed, whether it be two years or thirty years.”

“I see a day when you willl be able to pay on the real attributes of the carcase, but it is not here yet, but it is to look forward to.”