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Dohne Australia – May 2022

Councils’ Update
Councils’ Annual Face to Face Meeting – Council will conduct the annual face to face meeting on Monday 20 June and Tuesday 21 June in Albury NSW. This provides the opportunity for sub committees to present researched recommendations to council. If any members have topics/issues that they would like council to address at this meeting please email Cameron Hills secretary@dohne.com.au.
Annual General Meeting – The AGM of the ADBA will be held on Wednesday 22 June at 7pm in the Fallon Conference Room at the Quest Albury, 550 Kiewa Street Albury NSW, to coincide with the Coonong Sire Evaluation Field Day that day. Members are invited and encouraged to attend.
Coonong Participants’ Meeting – This event will also be held in Albury at the Quest Albury on Thursday morning 23 June.

  • ADBA has arranged guest speakers
  • Q&A session on the Coonong Sire Evaluation
  • Discussion on an extra year of reproduction with the Coonong Evaluation – costs/benefits

Coonong Station Sire Evaluation 
The AMSEA Dohne Sire Evaluation is progressing very well with the ewes Post Weaning Weight recorded on 1 April. The ewes averaged 52 Kg – includes 9 months wool. The ewes are looking fit and healthy having been crutched and drenched prior to the weighing. Classing of the ewes, includes Classers Grade  plus 14 Visual Sheep Score Traits, Body Weight, Mid Side Sample and complete fibre measurement is planned to occur in early June with results available for the Field Day.
The wethers have been grain assisted with barley in self-feeders since mid-March. Slaughter is scheduled for late May at Gundagai Meat Processors. Ultrasound scanning for muscle and fat depth (PEMD & PFAT) on the wethers was conducted by Jake Burey and a Pre-Slaughter Weight to calculate Dressing % will be collected prior to delivery.
210 randomly selected (stratified twin & single proportions) of wether lambs have been identified from the sire groups for the MLA Meat Eating Quality Satellite Resource Flock which will gather valuable Meat Eating Quality and Carcase Yield traits including 50K genomic markers for higher accuracy ASBV’s for sires included in the trial. There is a lot of interest from across the sheep meat industry regarding this component of the trial! ADBA thank Gundagai Meat Processors and UNE Meat Science technicians for their cooperation in scheduling this important data collection event which will also gather IMF% and LMY from in plant technologies in commercial use at the abattoir.
The complete site report for the wethers will be available at the Coonong Sire Evaluation Field Day scheduled for Wednesday 22 June. The ewes will be penned in individual sire groups undercover at the Coonong Shearing Shed, AMSEA Site Report and AMSEA Breeding Values displayed for all 15 Sire groups which include the 3 link sires under evaluation at MLP and AMSEA Sire Evaluation sites. The site committee is very much looking forward to seeing you in attendance.
Any questions from ADBA members regarding the trial or further information please contact the Site Manager, Jim Meckiff at jamesmeckiff@gmail.com or 0428332280.

Below are some photographs of the Ultrasound Muscle & Fat Scanning with Jake Burey at Coonong Station 7 May 2022.