Stocking rates drive Merino profitability

摘要

To maximise Merino profitability, modern genetics needs to address the primary profit driver: running sheep at higher stocking rates without reducing productivity or increasing costs too much. Farm advisers report that the most profitable Merino growers do not have the highest fleece weight per head and rarely have the finest clips. Almost always, the most profitable growers have higher wool cut or higher lamb turn-off per hectare: that is, they run sheep at higher stocking rates without losing productivity or blowing out costs. This is the primary profit driver of profit for nearly all Merino flocks.