Science of Merino: Hill Padua Poll Merinos meet high-spec markets

Hill Padua has amassed 15 years of measured performance to achieve very efficient high-performance animals for today’s markets. Stud manager Fred Echaniz said the focus had been on breeding modern multi-purpose Merino. “We are providing high-performance genetics with excellent fertility, enabling fast growing efficient lambs and excellent quality wool,” he said. “This year has been very challenging, coming out of a very poor 2023 season with a hot and long summer – the first rain was not until June, in the middle of lambing. “But it didn’t rain grass – lambing faced tough conditions requiring supplementary feeding.” Mr Echaniz said the clear expression of the Hill Padua ewes’ maternal ability was evident with 127.3 per cent lambing (combined stud and commercial ewes), a marking of 3395 lambs from 2667 ewes mated. “Our average lambing has been 125.1 per cent in the last four years, with a total of 14,017 lambs and 11,194 ewes mated in four years,” he said. “At pregnancy scanning we had 135 triplet pregnant ewes, this was 5 per cent of all ewes getting pregnant with three lambs. “We achieved a survival of 219 per cent on triplet stud ewes and 167 per cent with the commercial ewes.” Mr Echaniz said high FAT and EMD content in the ewes gave them fast recovery post-weaning, allowing them to achieve high conception and excellent lambing year after year. “Lambs on Hill Padua bloodline always hit the ground running, with average live weight gains of between 300 and 350 grams per day assisted with high-performance management,” he said. “They are also very versatile for different feeding strategies - the lambs don’t go backwards if faced with minimal stress challenges. “High FAT and EMD content play a massive role on maintaining performance of our sheep.” Mr Echaniz said June-born wether lambs were sold between the first week of December (500 lambs), and second week in January (570 lambs), with an average live weight of 55 to 60kg. “We were very happy to have those lambs off the farm early in a very tight season,” he said. “Our lambs normally yield 3 to 4 pe cent more than traditional Merinos. “Measurements for eating quality have our lambs in an excellent position for future markets with excellent IMF, CWT, and also top-dressing weight.” Mr Echaniz said Hill Padua was cutting about 6kg of wool per ewe with 19 micron. “Having a ewe that raises 1.25 lambs and 6kg of wool per year makes this type of sheep very hard to beat as a profit maker,” he said. Hill Padua’s ram sale will take place on Monday, September 16 with an offering of 130 rams, fully measured and genomic tested. “We have achieved an excellent line of rams, with high selection rate of one in every five rams bred making the sale - we provide rams with excellent structure, combined with very high-performance data,” Mr Echaniz said. “We are confident that we are breeding some of the most balanced, strong and robust Merinos that can hold to high-performance standards even in tough environments. “This year, we will have progeny from HP210273 on offer, a ram that is an absolute meat machine with top FAT, EMD, IMF, CWT, and DRESS ASBVs, and is producing excellent animals for us and for six other studs in the Eastern States.”