SHEARING MERINO RAM WEANERS - IS IT WORTH IT

This study compared two groups of young Merino rams - one that had bee n shorn at weaning and the other not. The groups were comparable in br eeding, feeding and management and both were then shorn at 10 and 16 m onths of age. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the impact of w eaner shearing on the repeatability of fleece measurements taken on yo ung rams when shorn at 10 months of age. We also aimed to determine if there were any management benefits from weaner shearing on growth rat es, seed infestations and fly strike. In the group that was not shorn at weaning, the fleece weight rankings at 10 months were very poorly r elated to the fleece weight rankings at 16 months of age. In the other , weaner shorn, group the relationship between fleece weight rankings at 10 and 16 months shearings was twice as high. Weaner shearing had l ittle impact on the repeatability of measurement of fibre diameter at 10 months of age. The rankings of rams on fibre diameter at that age w ere closely related to rankings at 16 months of age, regardless of whe ther the rams had been weaner shorn or not. There were no management a dvantages which resulted from weaner shearing. Weaner shorn and unshor n rams grew at similar rates, and grew wool at similar rates and of si milar quality. In fact nett returns from wool, up to and including the 10 month shearing were $2.36 per head lower in the weaner shorn group - as a result of the cost of the extra shearing in that group.