Pete Fort, 26, has worked at Tony Fleetwood’s farm Wexford, Byaduk North, for five years. Prime Lamb production is the primary industry on the 770-hectare farm.
The core breeding flock has 7000 mature composite ewes and each year, they keep 1500 replacement ewes. The flock is based on Cashmore Park bloodlines. Mr Fort said the composites had inherent hybrid vigour and the operation aimed for smaller framed sheep with strong maternal traits, including fertility, fecundity and milk. This year, the ewes’ scanning percentage was 150 despite having many younger ewes and a dry season. Mr Fort said the late spring lambing flock valued spring pasture growth to meet its nutritional needs. However, the Western District farm received no late spring rain.
Mr Fort said having a feedlot relieved a lot of pressure. They finish lambs on a total mixed ration of predominantly lucerne, barley and lupins; which they feed out twice a day. Generally, lambs spent six to seven weeks in the feedlot, but Mr Fort said that depended on growth and final target weight.
The sell heavy trade lambs directly to Coles. An average of one truckload of about 500 lambs is sent off per fortnight and that rate increased in January and February.
Because of the dry conditions, they have also had to feed the ewes and have decided to buy in grain as a cheaper option to fulfill their energy needs. Young ewes are given a flush of lupins to boost their condition.
They aim to get the ewes to condition score three before rams are put out. Rams are put out at a rate of 1.2 per cent in late March. Some ewes are joined to Poll Dorsets from the local Chrome stud, and ewe lambs are joined to Southdowns for their lower birthweights.
Pasture management is another key focus of the operation. They have applied a lot of lime in the past few years and this year, are focusing on potash. Each year, they re-sow 40ha of summer crop. These paddocks are then sown to an annual crop, another summer crop and then to perennial pasture of ryegrass and sub-clover.
The animals are rotationally grazed except at joining and lambing. The sheep are moved to ensure the grass is kept quite short and actively growing, and then given enough recovery time.
Mr Fort is part of a group of young farmers that meet up about six times a year to talk about different aspects of the farms. He also takes advantage of courses and field days hosted by Rural Industries Skill Training (RIST) in Hamilton. For example Mr Fort has done his Certificate III in Agriculture and the Lifetime Ewe Management course. At Wexford, they’ve also hosted some DEDJTR trials. Mr Fort said a potential growth area in prime lamb production was collecting and using data to improve productivity.
“The lamb industry can learn a lot from the beef industry with their use of technology and data,” Mr Fort said.
