MEIS works to support families who have a child (0-6 years) with a disability or developmental delay. It helps to give guidance, knowledge and skills to families to help them with their child’s development and participation in family and community activities.

Rhonda Howie, the Director of MEIS, said that this donation will be used to help a child on the waiting list.

Early intervention that involves the collaboration with other people working in early childhood education, is the key to a child’s progression through the formative years and into primary education.

The woolgrowers are able to make this donation by their involvement in a local merino genetic evaluation trial (wether trial) where 29 growers have each “donated” 15 weaner sheep to the trial which will run for three years.  

The trial provides objective measurement comparisons for wool and meat production traits. Fibre diameter, greasy fleece weight, yield, body weight, fat score and carcass yield, are all included in the trial data.  

The sheep are run as one mob and shorn each year. It is the wool proceeds from the first “even-up” shearing which has been donated to MEIS.    

The 29 teams have come from properties all around the Monaro and the Southern Tablelands districts such as Yass, Crookwell, Gunning and Bookham.

The trial is coordinated by MFS and sponsored by local wool broker GLW. Gordon and his team have helped to promote the trial as well as draft the teams and also organised transport to move the teams from the tablelands down to the Monaro.

Tom McGuiness, “Bigga Pastoral”, from the Crookwell district entered the trial “because we believe as wool producers it is one of the most powerful tools you can use to measure your flock productivity and profitability.   

“By benchmarking your sheep genetic characteristics against other flocks it allows you to focus your efforts in improving the areas where you have the most to gain.”

Tom’s farm business is currently going through a period of genetic change and he is keen to measure this against the very best flocks in the region.  He mentions he “did not go in the trial to win but rather to see how we can improve.”

Tom and his family are really happy to donate to the MEIS charity “because having young children ourselves, we realise how important it is to provide early intervention in relatively isolated regional areas, as these services are otherwise out of reach for children.”

The trial is aimed to provide participants with an objective measurement as to where their current flock is positioned in genetic terms in relation to the Industry benchmark.

This is the second wether trial to be run on the Monaro in the last four years following the success of a similar trial run at “Tombong” south of Bombala from 2012 to 2014. This trial demonstrated a difference of $50/ha in median profit as well as a difference of $71,000 in whole farm profit between the top and the bottom performing bloodlines.

Dave Ward, Spring Ponds, another participant in the trial entered “to see how our sheep performed comparatively to other commercial flocks in our district under the same management conditions.”  He also wanted a measurement of “how profitable our sheep are and to show if we are on the right track with our genetics.”

GLW are very pleased to be associated with the MFS Wether trial as it “gives Wool Growers a fantastic opportunity to not only benchmark their own flock and business, but to also meet other Growers and share information to help improve their bottom line. GLW encourage Wool Growers to attend the Shearing’s over the next three years and have a look at the information from the trial and consider participating in the future.”

Gordon adds, “The wool growers need to be congratulated for their support of the Monaro Early Intervention Service (MEIS) as this is a crucial service to the local area.”

For more information please contact Nancy Spoljaric, Monaro Farming Systems, 0438 066 322 or nancy@meridian-ag.com.au