Gringegalgona Merinos started in 1947, and there's no signs the Silcock family is slowing

The third-generation grazier joins about 8000 ewes a year and recently made the switch to an entire Merino flock, moving away from Dorset rams to focus on sheep which provide an even cover of wool and meat.

Located in the Dundas Tablelands between Balmoral and Cavendish, lambing takes place from late May, with dry ewes rejoined to lamb down in August.

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He said regular rain had provided a reliable food base for his flock, but the region was in need of a decent drink.

"Lambing has been terrific, it's been really good," he said.

"We had to feed last year during lambing because it was a bit dry whereas this year we've picked up another 10 per cent of lambs marked.

"One of the main reasons is there's more feed around and we're not having to go into the paddock to feed and potentially causing ewes to mismother their lambs."

He runs the operation with his parents Stephen and Judith and partner Maria.

The Silcock family has run the operation since 1947, and Mr Silcock's grandfather started the stud in 1949, however, the operation now mainly focuses on producing commercial sheep.

The family breeds about 400 rams a year with some sold throughout the season via private treaty.

"We're looking for some rain in the next week or so because we've had a few frosts in recent weeks," he said.

Part of their operation includes a Breed Elite system to record their data, as all the sheep the family has bred have been pedigree recorded since the stud started.

"The last few years we have used DNA not just for the stud but we also have records of all our joined rams so that we can cull any rams producing sheep in the cull group or for pigment," Mr Silcock said.

"We are also measuring heavily for a non-mulesed animal, we do not mules our rams even though they are not ready to be a non-mulesed animal.

"This means we cull drastically on these traits."

A key focus for the family is to reduce the rams produced each season down to 200 rams by 10 months of age, after measuring fleece and carcase characteristics.

"Then we leave ourselves room to cull down to 100 by joining in late November," he said.

"By cycling through rams we cull hard at every age so that the best stud lines will be those remaining at four years of age, emphasising longevity but also the ability to join younger rams of those lines."