A VARIED career -- including time as an Australian Army officer and working on overseas aid and development projects -- is evident in how Tatyoon grazier Craig Hinchcliffe runs his property.
A glance at a property map has one small, but telling, clue.
He has "General's Corner" on-farm – a shelter belt planted by army colleagues who came to visit the property.
Military training and aid work is evident in the meticulous planning which has gone into running the property, which has been in the family for four generations.
"We are quite happy we have got a good genetic base; the thing that really determines success at the moment is the management of our pastures and the management of our livestock," Mr Hinchcliffe said.
"We call it our quadrant grazing pilot project -- we have three 16ha paddocks, in which we have sown different types of fodder crops, and we practice preferential grazing."
Naturally blessed by having a series of small hills on-farm, Mr Hinchcliffe can do a visual examination of what fodder crops the sheep prefer, whether it be barley, oats or a ryegrass, brassica mix.
"So when a mob of hungry ewes and lambs go into the paddock, we like to see whether they prefer to eat a barley, or a different type of oat, or a ryegrass brassica mix," Mr Hinchcliffe said.
"Once we determine those overall preferences, we find out if there are any grazing sequences; for example, do they have a taste everywhere, or do they eat one type, before moving on to find some other type.
"What we have found most interesting is what our ewes are preferring at what time of year and what kind of pasture growth, if we allow fodder crop to get beyond 20-30cm, there is too much dry matter for them."
It is all part of what he said was a low stress, environmentally sustainable operation.
Lamb marking was done in portable yards, taking the equipment to the sheep, rather than the other way around.
Mr Hinchcliffe said the switch from Merinos to prime lamb was made after the wool price slump in the 1970s and 80s.
Breeder ewes are Poll Dorset and White Suffolk.
White Suffolk rams are used to produce lambs which are to be sold, while Poll Dorset rams are used to keep the breeding line going.
The property works on a ratio of one ram per 50 ewes.
"A lot of people work on one ram per 100, plus an extra, but we have had 95pc of lambs fall in the first three weeks of lambing.
"We have high conception rates, scanning about 160pc conception, and marking between 135-140pc."
The aim is to turn off a 22 to 26kg carcase weight lamb, after 14-16 weeks.
"Lambing takes place from the end of July, through August, and in that three to four-week period, we turn out 3000 lambs," Mr Hinchcliffe said.
"Three months after that we have them ready for sale."
Most of the biomass is grown between September and November, so lambing coincides with the spring flush.
"We can meet our targets pretty well, but don't have much control over the market," Mr Hinchcliffe said.
Most recently he has switched to auctions online, moving away from traditional saleyards.
"Anyone who enjoys eating good quality meat will be able to determine tastiness and tenderness, there is no feedlotting, they are only range fed," Mr Hinchcliffe said.
There is some supplementary feeding of grain, grown on-farm, but he was now investigating whether to buy it in.
Mr Hinchcliffe sources his rams from Gloroy Poll Dorset stud, which had been operating for more than 50 years.
It is run by the Harris family, at Newbridge, in central Victoria.
