James and Lucie Peddie, Richard and Sardie Edgar and Westwood Grazing Co are Zoetis Prime Lamb Producer of the Year finalists

Based on their high production production, productivity, innovation, judges selected Richard and Sardie Edgar, Nareen, Westwood Grazing Co, Spicers Creek and James and Lucie Peddie, Cluan, Tasmania as finalists for this year's champion award.

A strong focus on lamb survival and ewe lambs over the last few years has seen huge improvements on one south-west Victorian farm.

Richard and Sardie Edgar, Westcuyuac, Nareen, run 12,5000 composite ewes.

They sell their lambs into the domestic market between four to eight months of age at a dressed weight of 24.5 kilograms.

And they have had a lot of success in recent years thanks to taking part in sheep training courses.

"In the last five or so years we have been using Tim Leeming's Precision Lambing practices, so short joinings, small mob sizes, and a real focus on using the best lambing areas, so sheltered paddocks with plenty of feed on offer, for twins each year," Mr Edgar said.

"The short joinings give you a lot of control over having the correct feed on offer while they're lambing and the other big advantage is all your multiple lambs are in well-protected paddocks; each year I'm fencing off more slopes of hills and little areas."

He said the aim each year since implementing Precision Lambing practices was 90 per cent lamb survival, "and we've been getting a lot of 88s and 92s, so it's definitely working well".

He said this had a huge impact on the farm's bottom line.

"We've done all the work to get those fetuses in the ewes, and doing that bit more at the end to get another 5-7pc survival, is obviously worth a bit, particularly with the price of lamb at the moment," he said.

The Edgars also participated in a course about ewe lambs through Andrew Kennedy's Thrive Agri Services business, which they said they learned a lot from.

"Andrew's got an optimal growth curve for ewes lambs, so we've been trying to keep lambs growing, matching that growth curve so you've got the weight there for joining," Mr Edgar said.

"We just scanned our ewe lambs this year and of the whole drop we joined, 90pc were in lamb at 160pc scanning.

"Before we did the course with Andrew, we used to get a lot of 70pc in lamb and more like 140pc scanning, so we really hope this continues."

Processors have backed the Mason family's nomination for Zoetis Prime Lamb Producer of the Year.

Nick and Mary Mason and their son, Matt and his wife Kellie, Westwood Grazing Co, Spicers Creek, NSW, won most successful exhibitor at the 2022 Dubbo Show Prime Lamb Competition last month, with their three pens of Poll Dorset lambs.

The competition was judged by Andrew Jackson of Thomas Foods International and Paul Besgrove of Hardwick Meat Company.

The Masons' award-winning prime lambs are from first-cross Merino ewes and Poll Dorset rams, bought in from carefully-selected properties.

"We buy all our first-cross ewes from one source, Spicers Run, so we get first pick of their ewes and then we source all of our rams from Tattykeel Dorset stud so we get first pick of their commercial rams," Mr Mason said.

"We run about 4500 first-cross ewes and with a split lambing across spring and autumn to utilise our feed and our rams a little bit better.

"Out of those 4500 ewes, we average 6000 lambs a year."

Mr Mason said the autumn-drop lambs were sold as suckers at 16-18 weeks either at the Forbes, NSW, saleyard or direct to processors.

A portion of the spring lambs, depending on the season, are sold as suckers, while a majority of the draft are carried through to the heavy export lamb category.

The mixed-farming operation also consists of a dual-purpose cropping component which helps fill feed gaps in winter.

"All our stock run on improved pastures such as lucerne, chicory, clover and phalaris," Mr Mason.

"The success of the business is because we try and pick the best-quality genetics we can, along with the best-quality pasture to get those lambs off so early."

It is a business, not a lifestyle, says the owner of one of the country's highest-performing prime lamb operations.

Lucie and James Peddie run a highly-tuned operation at Cluan Farm, near Launceston, Tas, after moving to Tasmania from Victoria's western district in 2015 in an attempt to escape the impacts of climate change.

Since 2015, the Peddies have expanded their operation from 863 hectares to 1500 hectares, including 10,000 breeding ewes and 2500 ewe lambs.

The Peddies' cost of production has averaged $3.96 a kilogram of dressed lamb for the past four years, whereas Aggregate Consulting benchmarking database average $5.54/kg for the same period.

"We run a few more ewes per hectare, we wean a few more lambs per ewe and our lamb production dressed weight is slightly higher," Mr Peddie said.

"It's the little things that you multiply together and end up with a bigger result."

According to Aggregate, the Peddies' lamb production dressed weight was 31.6kg a hectare, compared to the average of 20.4kg.

They stock at 21.2 dry sheep equivalent a hectare, whereas the database average was 14.2DSE/ha.

The flock is predominantly Cloven Hills bloodlines, where the Peddies aim to buy rams in the top 1 per cent on Lambplan, focusing on worm resistance, early growth rates, muscling and moderate adult weight.

Mr Peddie said they "stock higher than most", working on a production system based on the weight of lamb produced a hectare.

They scan for dry ewes, singles, twins and triplets in order to flexibly manage nutritional requirements.

Over the past decade, they have developed an elite nucleus flock that started by selecting their best ewe lambs to single mate to specific rams.

"We breed our own rams so we have a small terminal flock and small elite maternal flock - basically we use objective measurements and science to drive what we do," he said.

And while the stocking rate could be considered high, Mr Peddie said in four of the past seven years, many sheep "did not know what grain was".

Ideally, supplement feeding wasn't required due to the property's fertile soil, with Olsen phosphate at 20 milligrams a kilogram.

"We try and grow a lot of grass and then we try and consume a lot of grass - it's high production and high utilisation," he said.

But a tough spring and autumn meant the Peddies have supplement fed since April.

"Last year we spent $16,000 on bought-in fodder, whereas this year we will spend $200,000," Mr Peddie said.

"We are still feeding - it was a really tough autumn and with the cold winters here it is hard for pasture growth to catch up."

In most years, the Peddies would sell 90pc of lambs, or about 13,000 lambs, into the Coles grassfed lamb program, GRAZE.

He said this highly-tuned operation was not for everyone.

"It's a business, not a lifestyle," he said.

"Financially it is rewarding but I am passionate and believe in it."