“Going back six years ago, our lamb production capability was limited by scale, lack of farm infrastructure and our traditional first-cross system with autumn lambing,” Mr Croser said.

“We wanted biosecurity in a self-replacing closed flock while improving genetic capability to increase lamb output.”

With high land prices, Mr Croser felt they should invest in their sheep genetics.

The goal was to increase survival rates from a higher output ewe (kilograms weaned per ewe) that required lower input in terms of feed and management, as well as delay lambing to late winter/spring to naturally increase ovulation, therefore increasing scanning percentages and maximising hybrid vigour for a quicker lamb finish.

“We were introduced to the Highlander, a purpose-built maternal and Primera terminal breed from New Zealand,” Mr Croser said.

“These breeds seemed to fit with our breeding objectives.”

In 2013, they imported and implanted the first of 2000 embryos from the NZ Highlander and Primera nucleus flocks and in 2021, they mated 2600 elite stud ewes, directly descended from these embryos.

This flock makes up their Kiranda Maternal (a stabilised composite of the Romney, Finn and Texel breeds) and Kiranda Prime breeds.

What they love about the breed:

• Free lambing
• Rear a lamb from ewe lamb mating
• Rear two good lambs per ewe
• Moderate ewe frame/liveweight 70kg
• Low maintenance feed requirement
• Low replacement rate with longevity
• Wide muzzle for feed intake
• Remain structurally sound
• Black points
• Finer tighter fleeces with clear points

Early sexual maturity

Ewe lambs mated at seven to eight months of age weighing 45kg, consistently scan between 130 to 140 per cent and weaning over 100pc, which was their goal.

Feed requirements complement the Penola season, with it’s late summer mating the mature ewes don’t need pampering and can be below target mating weights and still scan around 200pc.

In autumn, they are easy to get back to 68kg mature weight if required.

“In winter, our goal is to restrict feeding to around 1.1kg DM/day to maintain ewe condition and set up paddocks for lambing,” Mr Croser said.

“Lambing is in early spring on short but growing pastures when feed
demand grows to around 5kg DM/day (ewe and lambs), this way we get to utilise more of our spring flush to convert into weaned lambs.”

Great mothers

Kiranda Maternals are free lambing, with small vigorous lambs, they create a strong bond with their offspring, are highly protective and have high quality milk supply for a healthy start.

Lamb survival rates are targeted at 95pc in singles, 85pc in twins and
75pc in triplets.

With the conversion of the flock now complete, Mr Croser is focusing on farm infrastructure; mainly subdivision, improved pasture and more intensive flood/centre pivot irrigation.

“With improvements, the superior grazing nature of our sheep will improve our pasture quality and supply,” he said.

“When we can achieve our weaning targets of 400kg of lambed weaned per hectare then we may be in a position to look to expand our scale.”

Ram breeding business

Kiranda’s ram breeding flocks are run commercially and rams are grown naturally on improved pasture and offered for sale at 15 to 16 months of age.

“We genotype for parentage, so a natural lambing environment is
maintained,” Mr Croser said.

“We are proud to have 1000 rams out working on farms this season and another 1000 ram lambs being carried through for selection in our November sale.

“We are seeing a steady increase in demand from mainstream sheep flocks who want a maternal injection for their ewe flock, moderate the size of their ewes and self-replace with these complementary, stabilised genetics.”