Overhaul leads to production boost

Mr Drew's fine-tuned sheep and cropping operation underwent an overhaul four years ago to make the Merino flock more productive to compensate for the relaxed wool market.

From shearing to lambing to turning-off lambs, Mr Drew and his wife Heather have succeeded in fast-tracking production by getting an extra drop of lambs on the ground every two years from their 1500-head flock.

"I realised the animal had to become more productive because we weren't making enough money from it," Mr Drew said.

"Is putting more wool on the sheep going to make me more money?

"Maybe a bit, but I realised the biggest way to make my Merinos more productive was to produce more lambs."

He initially set about transforming the breeding program with a trial to shorten the breeding, weaning and marking cycle of half the flock by four months and use the remainder of the flock as the control group.

Mr Drew said the changes had minimal impact on management and were adopted by the whole flock in the following joining.

Joining is for five weeks, with lambing in November, April and August.

Lambs are marked in the sixth week of lambing and weaned four weeks later.

Ewes go through 1.5 cycles per year, including Merino ewe lambs that are joined at 11 months old.

"Not only do I have an extra drop every two years, I have a Merino lamb out of the ewe, on the ground and weaned, when most people are just starting to join," he said.

"How does it affect the bottom line?

"It has nearly doubled our production, when it goes around."

He has developed a reputation in the region as a sharp operator who embraces learning and strives to push the family business to the limits.

"In this game it is a moving target every day," Mr Drew said.

"For some, it is a bigger moving target."

The challenges of "slipping weeks" with the tight schedule have been overcome by a detailed diary of dates that shows the various activities, including ewe and ram preparation, shearing, pre-joining, joining, taking the rams out, marking, weaning and scanning, and details the management plans.

The ratio of lambs marked to ewes joined has increased from 85-90 per cent to 95-100pc per joining, equating to 145pc annually.

"I'm joining for less time but getting more lambs on the ground and have the opportunity to join maiden ewes to get an extra lamb out of the sheep," he said.

Mr Drew said there had not been a major shift in input required because they were selling lambs off the property earlier.

They crop 1100 hectares of wheat, canola and pulses, which enables sheep to go onto the stubbles in January and February, and pulse crops are used as a drought-proof feed alternative during dry times.

The property averages 550 millimetres of rainfall annually, which Mr Drew said required a supplementary feeding program of fine-chopped silage for three or four months through late summer and autumn.

"We had sheep that were fat for quite a period of the year and we were doing nothing with that fat apart from growing wool," he said.

"The wool component is not the big component of sheep anymore; it all comes down to numbers."

Lambs are weaned young to allow the ewe to be shorn and to fit in with in tighter joining, which Mr Drew said had revealed no downside, provided they received the correct nutrition.

The flock averages 19 micron and is predominantly Roseville Park bloodlines with an injection of Woodpark Merino rams.

Strengthening the breeding program was the take-home advice from a Sheep CRC Bred Well Fed Well workshop that encouraged Mr Drew to use estimated sheep breeding values (ESBVs) as a tool to pinpoint more selective traits when purchasing rams.

"I want to get quick-maturing Merinos that are big enough to then be joined as a lamb, because in doing so I should end up with a Merino that I can turn off for slaughter as a lamb," he said.

"With the ESBVs I can categorically say some sheep won't suit me, despite looking good in the pen.

"Their breeding values are showing me they won't produce what I need them to produce.

"Now that I've started using ESBVs as a tool it has allowed me to maintain wool quality, lift weaning weight and improve eye muscle area."

Despite the shorter timeframe to shearing, Mr Drew said the flock was still averaging 70-80mm of fleece length, and in the most recent shear ewes cut five kilograms and lambs cut a four-kilogram average.

Lambs are sold before cutting their teeth into "opportunistic markets".

"The targets shift," he said.

"At times we sell ewe lambs lighter or, depending on the market, we might put weight on them.

"We sold Merino lambs in the wool this year because I figured if I could get $80-$90 now, why carry them over a longer time?"

He said there was no great input expense and it was an achievable move for producers wanting to lift output.

"A lot of people look at what I am doing and find a reason not to do it, because as individuals we generally don't like change," Mr Drew said.

"What is harder about doing what I'm doing compared to what everyone else is doing?

"It is easy work when you have more lambs on the ground."