A Merino renaissance

However, a management system centered on livestock has emerged as the best way to get the most out of the farm's more marginal sandy paddocks.

Alan Bennett, who farms together with wife Donna and son Luke said sandy, scrubby paddocks backing onto the Little Desert had been clay-delved and clay-topped and sown to dryland lucerne.

These paddocks are then a critical feed source for the family's flock.

"It has been a real transformation in these paddocks, which previously have been unable to support too many stock, the lucerne based system suits the soil type down to the ground, where grain crops would probably struggle."

The revival of the Bennett family's flock has focused on Merinos, rather than meat breeds.

Mr Bennett said the farm carried a 2000-ewe self-replacing Merino flock, using Glenlea Park Poll Merino rams from the Wallis family at Pinnaroo, South Australia.

Three quarters of the ewes are lambed down to Merino sires, with a quarter going to White Suffolks.

Mr Bennett said the big, plain Glenlea Park bloodlines had almost eliminated the need for a cross-bred component of the flock.

"They are nice, big, heavy cutting sheep with good early growth, so you really have a good dual purpose sheep on your hands.

"Down the line we may cut down on the cross-bred numbers."

Mr Bennett said he had experimented with other dual purpose wool and meat sheep, such as SAMMs but was happier with the performance of the pure Merinos.

"With the SAMMs I found they were cutting around a kilogram less and averaged about a micron more and in terms of size there isnít much difference."

Interesting, the ewe lambs get three shearings in their first two years.

They are lambed later in the year in July or August, so the family is confident there is enough winter feed around, as opposed to the district tradition of late autumn lambing.

There is then a shearing in March, before being done in September as a 1yo and another March shearing.

"We find that the staple just gets too long otherwise, weíre talking a 60-65mm staple as it is,it would get too long if we waited until they were 14 months old, and bringing them in early also eliminates the need for a crutching."

The wethers are marketed through the first half of the year, usually finishing on crop stubbles.

Occasionally, Mr Bennett said he would opportunity buy sheep in if there was excess feed.

"I've just sent some sheep away over the hooks that I got from northern NSW last year.

"They were very cheap, even with the freight of bringing them down and the feed was here, but that is only a sideline to our core operation."

The vigour of the bloodline is evidenced by the management needed for the pregnant ewes.

"We have to monitor the ewes with singles to ensure they are run a little bit harder as the lambs have done a little bit too well and the mums have had a bit of a problem at birthing.

"That's the opposite of what you normally have to do in our area where you really have to look after the mums with twins."

This year's Merino lambing percentage was a tick over 100pc, which was extremely healthy given the hot weather at mating, while the crossbreds averaged around 110pc.

Mr Bennett said the lucerne provided valuable feed through the autumn.

"Ideally we try and keep the sheep on the stubbles for a bit and then the lucerne really comes into its own through the autumn when it can be pretty tough for livestock.

"These paddocks really have had amazing productivity gains since we clayed them and introduced lucerne."