TOP SIRE 2025–2026 MERINOS ON FARM Photo captions. 1– David and Rhys Bonnington, “Bonnayr”, Curban, with their Mumblebone-blood ewes on show at the inaugural Castlereagh Maiden Flock Ewe Competition held north of Dubbo in the Collie, Mendooran and Merrygoen areas. 2– Judge Richard Chalker looking over ewes at “Bonnayr” during the competition. 3– Judges Charlie Howard, Richard Chalker and Jono Merriman looking over the Bonnington’s flock in March 2025. 3– The ewes are classed as maidens on fleece quality traits with cull ewes joined to White Suffolk rams. Merino wethers are shorn and sold at 45kg after finishing on dual-purpose crops such as grazing wheat and oats. Ewes are sold at five and a half years with the goal of keeping a young breeding flock. They started using electronic tags four years ago in a bid to identify the better performing sheep. The Bonnington’s ceased mulesing in 2016, but had been “breeding towards non-mulesing for a long time” before they made the move. David said there was a lot of evidence that was where the wool market was heading. About three years ago, they achieved Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) accreditation, which “requires a lot of paperwork and makes sure you keep better farm records,” he said. “Nothing we were doing on-farm management wise had to change though.” He said for the first few years they had received a good premium for their wool and, even though this premium had lessened, he believed they were still differentiating their offering while being hopeful the premium would widen again when the market improved, which had already seen premiums of up to 150c/kg in early 2025. The Bonnington’s also made the shift to six-monthly shearing four years ago. David said they had been selecting for staple length for several years with this goal in mind. While they considered shearing on eight-month intervals, they decided twice a year – in January and June/July – would fit their overall operation better. David said the sheep did better with shorter wool. They are achieving 65 to 75mm staple length at six months with staple strength also much higher. He identified other benefits with more frequent shearing, including reducing fly issues on their sheep, removing the need for crutching and reducing vegetable matter. By selling twice a year, they are able to spread their cash flow and smooth out market fluctuations. Their ewe flock averages 6.5kg wool each of 19 micron. In 2018, the Bonnington’s built a new shearing shed alongside their old one. David said this was partly because they needed an upgrade alongside a desire to invest in the future as well as a way to attract and retain good staff and shearers. years ago in a bid to identify the better – 34 –
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTI3ODI1