ON THE show circuit, Steve and Debbie Milne are looking forward to Hamilton Sheepvention, where White Suffolks are set take centre stage as the feature breed – marking 30 years.
Mr Milne is the breed convenor and expects a big line-up of sheep at the event early next month.
He and his wife have been running a White Suffolk seedstock enterprise for two of those decades at Branxholme, and are proud to see how far the breed has come.
"It's a great breed, and there are some fantastic people involved," he said, adding he'd spent 14 years on the association federal council – only stepping down from the role in the last few years.
Their Waratah Stud will be taking along a team of eight to 10 rams to Sheepvention, where a large number of exhibitors are set to put their sheep up to be judged.
The stud also shows sheep at the Adelaide Royal, which according to Mr Milne is the "number one" show for White Suffolks.
Last year, one of his rams topped the sale at Adelaide on a $14,000 bid.
"That's the highest price I've ever got," he said.
"A lot of people had their eyes on him. He was in the winning pair in the lamb production class for White Suffolks. And he had balanced Lambplan figures; plus he wasn't overly lean, which I think was why people were chasing him."
Back on the farm, the Milnes are waiting to see how the show and sale season pans out.
"The season has been a bit tough, but it's okay at the moment," he said.
"And we've got some very interesting rams coming through."
The Milnes are keen to see how the new eating quality traits will transform the sheep industry.
The couple have been performance testing their flock – using Lambplan – since they bought their first ewes in 1995.
But they are particularly excited about some of the newer traits, such as Shear Force and Intramuscular Fat, and what they will mean for the industry.
"It really is going to be the next big thing," Mr Milne said.
"Clients can now guarantee the eating quality of their product."
The Milnes tested their first young lambs for the new traits back in 2010, but they've only become publicly available for use in recent times.
While Sheep CRC recommends breeders DNA test the top 20 per cent of their flock, the couple have decided to look at the bigger picture in terms of pedigrees in an effort to fast track genetic gain – and provide more information to clients.
"We are approaching it slightly different," he said.
"It is uneconomical to test every animal, but every animal has some pedigree information that we can use. So we've been strategically testing rams to fill gaps in pedigrees, when it comes to eating quality traits."
He said one issue with genomic testing was the 10-week turnaround.
"We use ram lambs at six months of age, and because of that time delay, it makes us hard for us to get that data on those new traits back in time, so that's another reason why we've been taking a different approach," he said.
He said this would allow them to build a better picture across the whole flock, and have the ability to make the most of eating quality traits faster.
In terms of management, the Milnes' carrying capacity is limited by the size of their farm. At the moment they join about 150 ewes annually, and that's the most they can run along with young stock.
Ewes are joined in January, while lambing is carried out in June.
They market and sell anywhere from 90 to 100 rams annually. Most are sold to local south-west Victorian prime lamb producers.
"We like to focus on rams that can breed lambs at trade weights, about 20-22 kilograms carcase weight," Mr Milne said.
"Lambplan can help in that respect, because we can hone in on those breeding values."
He said they selected for low birth weights, high growth and moderate fat levels.
"We don't want sheep that are too lean, but they need good muscling," he said.
"We've also been selecting for worm resistance too."
Mr Milne said these trait types suited his local area.
