AUSTRALIAN white lambs are the foundation for grass-fed paddock to plate business Homebush Park Lamb, based at Homebush Park, Binalong.
Bernie and Trish Brennan run about 300 sheep on 90 hectares, and started using Australian white rams in 2014, focusing on genetics from Oberon stud Tattykeel.
“I’d watched them for a couple of years prior to that, and saw how much they had improved,” Mr Brennan said.
“I was breeding with some poll dorset stud ewes from Western Australia joined to dorper rams and I thought the Aussie whites would outperform the dorper for a number of reasons, but mainly carcase shape and weight.
“It’s a much quicker weight gain, they’re bigger framed sheep.
“With the Aussie whites, and Tattykeel stud, eating quality is the direction they’re heading in, and having a lamb business, that has to be the focus for us.”
The breed has thrived, with good fertility and doability. Mr Brennan said they handle all sorts of country, from snow to the heat, they’re great mothers with small lambs and good twinning rates.
Lambing percentages are about 140 per cent, with more than 100 per cent for maiden ewes.
“One of the features of them is that when a lamb is born, he’s wet, but because they don’t have wool, they’ll dry out really quickly, which is good on a bad night,” Mr Brennan said.
He is looking for carcase attributes when choosing rams, and that’s set to become much easier with the Tattykeel stud having a strong focus on eating quality.
“What Graham Gilmore is doing is testing the genetics of each ram for eating quality, so I believe he’ll have rams available with superior eating traits,” he said.
The Brennans began supplying lamb part-time in about 2012, but made the paddock-to-plate business their focus about 21 months ago.
The lamb is delivered to the Central Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Yass, Canberra, Jugiong and Young.
“At first we were killing lambs and delivering to locals, just on word of mouth, but now we go anywhere up to four or five hours from us,” Mr Brennan said.
Lambs are finished on oats and barley, as well as a lucerne, medic, clover and chicory blend pasture. Ewes and lambs are supplemented with a chaff meal when needed.
Mr Brennan selects the best lambs to go through the meat business, with up to 13 processed each time. Anything that doesn’t make the grade is sold through saleyards.
“They’ve got to be a fresh lamb,” he said. “They usually weigh 55 to 60 kilograms live weight, dressing about 52 per cent.
“As much as you’ve got to have size about them to be viable, if they’re slightly smaller it’s not an issue.
“Because I’m getting to know my customers and working out if somebody wants a smaller or bigger lamb, I know who to give them to.”
The lambs are processed at Cowra, butchered at Young, and hung for nearly a week before they’re cut to order. The meat is available as whole or half lamb, with either traditional or gourmet cuts supplied to customers.
The business, which has the motto “We breed ‘em, we feed ‘em, we deliver ‘em”, also supplies gourmet lamb pies. The range includes boned shoulders, standing rib roasts, two small racks of lamb, loin chops, leg steak, rump steak and an easy carve leg.
“We sell whole or half lambs, and 75 per cent of our customers have gone to gourmet cuts since we’ve introduced them,” Mr Brennan said.
Last year the family sold 200 lambs - about five tonnes of meat.
A recent addition to the range has been smoked lamb legs, with Mr Brennan supplying free samples for customers.
“The feedback has been phenomenal,” he said. “We’ve had people in their 60s saying they’ve never had lamb like that in their life, and there are other customers who have been opposed to having lamb in the house who are now cooking it.”