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Council Report 2021

  1. General Overview

The year 2021 was marked by the Covid-19 restrictions affecting all major activities of the breed society.  The National sale however took place after the Foot-and-mouth non-event of the previous year.  The sale which took place under Covid-19 restricted conditions, resulted in 30 top rams being sold for the average price of R35,600.  Mr. Wynand du Toit, Suidplaas Dohnes, Bredasdorp, sold the top priced ram for R120,000.  Congratulations to Mr. du Toit for this ram which was also the highest priced Dohne Merino ram for 2021.

 

Production sales remain the main indicator of the success of breeding Dohne Merino rams.  During the 2021 sales season 52 rams more at a price of R2694 per ram higher than for the previous year, were sold.  It is clear that commercial farmers are buying better quality rams at considerably higher prices.  Dohne Merino breeders must take note to contemplate this trend which contrasts with the genetic principle to use approximately one ram for every 40 ewes in large flocks to spread genetic change.  This genetic change in the form of numbers of rams needed, is bought from Dohne Merino studs using advanced scientific animal breeding techniques.  The trademark of the breed -hardiness, adaptability and consequently versatility  stays a crucial factor in expanding the market share of the Dohne Merino.

 

Note that the council report on breed activities during 2021 is released only at the end of 2022 to be able to reflect on complete information on 2020 born animals (now two years old).  The  report provides valuable information on aspects such as reproduction, production values, and selection intensity, which proved to be valuable for making on-farm decisions by stud breeders and flock farmers alike.

 

  1. Membership and flock size

The core membership of the breed (92 in Table 1)  remain stable.  The slight decrease in the number of breeders since 2019, may be ascribed to external factors affecting woolled sheep farming in general.  The members lost also represented small and not so active studs.  This reasoning is validated by the stable number of ewes on register of the breed society (Table 1).

Table 1: Membership and population size / Lidmaatskap en populasie grootte

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2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Registered Members/

Geregistreerde Lede

89 89 89 97 98 90 90 102 96 92
Honorary Members/ Ere Lede 8 8 7 6 6 5 4 4 4 3
No of recorded ewes/

Getal geregistreerde ooie

30,630 30,572 33,547 32,906 42517 33704 32581 34254 35355 3584

The number of honorary members (Table 1) remained intact at three members.

According to Table 2, changes in the number of registered studs may partly be explained by studs with between 50 and 100 ewes leaving the society.  At the same time, new studs with less than 100 ewes entered the Dohne Merino stud industry.  This part of the industry is particularly vulnerable during the current period of an unstable economy.  It is trusted that the new studs in the process of upgrading from commercial ewes, will develop in a sustainable manner to be highly successful.  All assistance will be provided by the breed society to these new members.

Table / Tabel 2 Analysis of stud size – Ontleding van stoetgrootte

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
Studs with 300 or more ewes 40 43 48 46 54 39 39 47 47 48
Stoeterye met tussen 200 en 299 ooie 15 14 12 15 12 22 22 17 14 14
Studs with between 100 and 199 ewes 21 15 9 9 10 8 8 13 13 12
Stoeterye met tussen 50 en 99 ooie 5 7 7 6 8 9 9 8 13 6
Studs with less than 50 ewes 8 10 7 8 13 12 12 17 11 12
Active breeders/Aktiewe telers 89 89 83 84 98 90 90 102 96 92

 

According to figure 1,  The ewe contribution by region 1 (Eastern Cape) increased by one percent to 21 percent while the contribution by region 2  (Karoo) decreased by yet another three percent to only 13 percent.  The number of ewes in the Southern Cape (region 3) remained stable at 16 percent but the number of ewes in the Western Cape and Western Karoo areas (region 4) increased by one percent to 12 percent.  The ewe contribution by region 5 ((Free State) remained at 19 percent but region 6 (KZN, Eastern Free State and Mpumalanga) increased by 1 percent to 19 percent.  However, the Western Cape and Western Karoo areas (Region 4) remain the smallest with an ewe contribution of 12 percent.  The Eastern Cape (region 1) is the biggest region at 21 percent with regions 5 and 6 at 19 percent being the second largest.  The number of registered ewes per region (varying between 4084 and 7498) increased marginally compared to the previous year. It can be concluded that the core of the national Dohne Merino flock remained stable despite  quite volatile external factors.

Figure 1: Distribution of stud Dohne Merinos on a regional basis

 

  1. Lambing percentage

The lambing percentage for all studs in 2020 was 4 percent lower than for 2019 (Table 3).   This change may be ascribed to generally dryer conditions in all sheep production areas, rather than genetic factors.

Table 3 Lambing percentage of stud Dohne Merino ewes

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
139% 144% 142% 138% 144% 146% 146% 149% 145%

 

3.1 Birth registrations

A total of 31030 births were registered.  Of these births 26828 lambs ( 86 percent) were recorded at 100 days of age (Table 7).  The birth status of these birth registrations is as follows:

year Total births Singles Twins Triplets Quadruplets
2020 31030 12143 16064 2500 323

 

Single born lambs constituted 39.1 percent of the 2020 lamb drop and twin born lambs 51.8 percent of the lamb drop.  In the wake of a 4 percent lower lambing percentage (Table 3), these figures serve as an indication of the inherent fertility and fecundity of the breed.

  1. Inspections & selection intensity

Table 4 indicates the number of sheep approved, expressed as a percentage of the number of lambs present at final inspection (12 months).  Less animals were approved during 2020 than for 2019.  Despite a lower lambing percentage (Table 3), the approval percentages  for both ewes (57%) and rams (49%) were also marginally lower than for 2019.  These figures may therefore be an indication of stud breeders selecting their animals slightly stricter than the previous year. One obvious reason may be that flock breeders are more selective when buying rams and are also buying less rams when average prices for rams are higher.

Note that the statistics in Table 4 are based on classing lists received at the office of the breed society during the calendar year and do not  relate to the number of animals on which measurements were taken per birthyear (Table 7).

Table/Tabel 4 Number of sheep approved and selection intensity/Getal skape goedgekeur en seleksie intensiteit

Lamb crop/ Lammeroes 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Ewes/

Ooie

7435

(57%)

7804

(55%)

8717

(57%)

8069

(47%)

6658

(47%)

9781

(59%)

8469

(60%)

9781

(59%)

8385

(57%)

Ramme/

Rams

6360

(50%)

7199

(48%)

6518

(48%)

6460

(39%)

5418

(39%)

7376

(50%)

6564

(50%)

7376

(50%)

5855

(49%)

AA Rams/

AA Ramme

2727

(20%)

2892

(17%)

2896

(17%)

2866

(16%)

 

2496

(16%)

3016

(20%)

2469

(19%)

3016

(20%)

2577

(18%)

 

Table 5 indicates that the number of F3 ewes presented for inspection increased.  This tendency can partly be ascribed to new studs founded by upgrading from flock-animals continuously entering the industry.  Compared to the 1796 F3 ewes inspected only 1702 ( 9.5 percent) were approved. This approval percentage is also increasing slightly every year which proves upgrading is becoming a more important factor.

Table/Tabel 5 Number of F3-ewes inspected/Getal F3-ooie geinspekteer

2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012
17966 13193 12564 13268 15688 7629 6069 10,235 9,595 13,108

 

 

 

  1. Sales of breeding material

The total number of 2479 rams sold during 2021, represent the lowest number of rams sold on sales for the past eight years.  However, the average price of R13 735 represents an increase of 20.8 percent compared to 2020.  This increase in the average price of rams resulted in a record turnover of R36.38 million.  The trend of commercial farmers paying higher prices for top genetic material to use in their own ‘improvement programs’ seems to be at a high.  Dohne Merino stud breeders are therefore required to provide sound genetic advice to especially flock breeders buying high priced rams.

Table/Tabel 6: Sales – 2013 tot 2020 – Veilings

2014 2015        2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021
No of public sales/

Pub veil

48 48 44 45 46 48 48 43
No of rams sold/

Ramme verk

2774 2718 2524 2603 2810 2619 2539 2479
Turnover/

Omset

23,997,299 22,793,750 23,243,400 28,807,401 32,980,970 31,568,567 27,629,398 36,380,000
Highest price/

Hoogste prys

160,000 130,000×2 110,000 220,000 335,000 180,000 150,000 120,000
Average price/

Gemid prys

8,651 8,386 9,204  

11,067

 

11,737 11,470 10,882 13,735
No of ewes transf/

Ooi oordra

396 929 482 366 276  

236

 

143 328

 

 

 

  1. Technical matters

6.1 Production recording

The figures for 2020 in table 7, indicates lower levels of production as well as lower numbers of animals evaluated at weaning and 12-months of age.  A total of 26828 weaning weights (25 percent less than 2019) and 18294 animals at 12-months of age, were recorded.  The loss between weaning and twelve months of age, is therefore  31.8 percent.  (8534 lambs).  Drought and economic conditions forced breeders to proportionally cull more animals at weaning every year.  It is trusted that pending farming conditions, breeders will resort back to retain as many animals as possible for final 12-month-old evaluation.  Research by Dr W Olivier confirmed the value of retaining as many animals as possible for final testing and selecting more accurately for accelerating genetic change.

Table/Tabel 7 Average production values of Dohne Merinos/Gemiddelde produksiewaardes

Test group/

Toetsgroep

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
No Animals 100 days/

Getal diere 100 dae

13,519

13,483

17,050

16,067

16,753

17,066

17,200

17,300

18867

18730

16511

16340

19294

19249

17576

17698

16081

15729

13493

13335

Weaning weight/

Speengewig (kg)

29.87

32.41

29.57

31.69

29.12

31.33

28.79

30.96

28.24

30.31

30.04

32.51

27.7

29.1

30.07

32.49

29.90

32.46

28.21

30.41

No Animals at 12 mths/

Getal diere 12 mde

11,518

10,878

14,115

12,268

12,544

12,123

13,350

12,073

14,379

12,416

15,057

11,710

13909

11798

13771

12108

12364

10319

 

9755

8539

 

Body weight/

Liggaams

gewig (kg)

45.80

62.02

45.15

60.39

44.64

60.64

45.26

60,25

45.30

60.08

46.54

60.19

46.47

63.69

47.68

65..16

46.43

63.50

44.89

61.07

Clean Fleece weight/

Skoonvag

gewig (kg)

2.79

3.35

2.81

3.34

2.62

3.05

2.66

3.16

3.03

3.32

3.02

3.30

 

2.61

3.10

 

3.02

3.61

2.82

3.44

2.67

3.11

Fibre diameter/

Veseldikte (µ)

17.90

18.33

17.68

17.94

17.72

17.93

17.58

17.84

17.94

18.00

17.94

17.96

17.70

18.10

17.91

18.24

17.50

17.90

 

17.17

17.58

WPP % 6.09

5.40

6.22

5.53

5.9

5.0

5.88

5.24

6.50

5.51

6.48

5.48

5.62

4.87

6.33

5.54

6.07

5.41

5.95

5.09

 

 

 

Society recommends that breeders make use of the production figures in table 7 to set target weights for evaluating their own stud animals.  The WPP% declined slightly for the 2020 born animals.  Because of prevailing drought conditions and lower overall production figures, this drop for especially rams was to be expected.

6.2 Genetic change

Table 8:  Breed averages for breeding values of Dohne Merinos born in 2020 and changes in the averages of breeding values from 2019 to 2020.

Trait Number lambs

Weaned(%)

Weaning

Direct

(kg)

Weaning

Maternal

(kg)

12months

Body

weight

Clean

Fleece

Weight

Fibre

Diameter

(µ)

General

Merit

Average +0.61 +0.72 -0.04 +1.10 +0.10 -0.15 +4.61
Change +0.34 +0.22 +0.02 +0.44 +0.03 -0.04 +1.34

 

The figures presented in table 8 were the results of breeding value comparisons with 2017 as base year.  Table 8 indicates significant changes in the growth rate and 12 months body weight of South African Dohne Merinos.  It is encouraging that number of lambs weaned per ewe lambed expressed as a percentage per ewe lifetime showed improvement.  Wool production and wool fineness seem to be stable but general merit improved.

6.3 Genetic linkage

Using the definition of a genetic link as a sire having more than 20 offspring in each of at least two studs, a total of 292 such links were identified for animals born in the 10-year period between 2011 and 2020.  The stud industry therefore complies to the minimum requirement for individual  studs to use at least one link sire every five years.  A total of five Dohne Merino studs had 10 or more links during the 10-year period while a total of 17 studs had only one or less genetic links.  This skewness in linkage indicates that a significant portion of the industry remains insufficiently  genetically linked.  One of the main reasons include unequal distribution of the progeny of different sires within the same contemporary group.  It is trusted that all Dohne Merino stud breeders will strive towards using sufficient link sires.

6.3 Other technical matters

Technical discussions regarding upgrading of office software as well as on-farm software took place.  The awards by SA Studbook regarding completeness and accuracy of recording was addressed.  Revision of the bylaws of the society is also in process.

  1. Top Breeder awards

Congratulations to the National Top breeder Winner Mr. Boeta Wessels, owner of the Weska Dohne Merino stud.

The Dohne Merino Breed Society thanks our sponsors – Virbac, BKB, Voermol and Molatek who  sponsor this prestigious event on a continuous basis.  Congratulations also to the Zoetis Dohne Merino man of the year – Mr. Wicus Bekker – CRUX Dohnes who succeeded in exporting South African Dohne Merino genetic material to South America.

  1. Administration

8.1 Annual General Meeting

After appropriate election of councilors, the following council was appointed: Philippie Marais (president), JH (Koenas) van der Westhuizen (vice-president), Andries Marx, Andries Greyling, Marcellene van Rooyen, Dries Pienaar, DH (Boeta) Wessels, Mr. John Morris and Richard Armstrong.

8.2 Finances

The Breed Society’s finances were sound.  Investments of the society had grown according to expectations.

8.3 Per capita fee

It was decided to increase the per capita fee to R25.00

8.4 Courses and Promotion

The main course at Stutterheim took place as well as an advanced course for inspectors at Bredasdorp.  Another course were held at Frankfort in conjunction with the first of three think tanks presented by the breed society. The theme for the think tanks was “back to basics to grow into the future.”  It is trusted that breeders took note of the discussions and that they will apply the outcome in their own studs.  It is foreseen that normal courses will proceed when health conditions in South Africa return to normal.

8.5 Staff

Office personnel provided outstanding service.  Marion Krause, chief office administrator, is in the process of training the newly appointed office administrator, Me. Annelize Bertalan.

9. Acknowledgements and thanks

The support of all organizations that contributed to the success achieved by the Dohne Merino stud industry is thankfully acknowledged. A special thank you to all our sponsors, breeders and inspectors for their efficient service provided to the breed and the small stock industry.