A tweak in flock joining strategy is expected to have a two-fold effect of bumping up pressure at the classing race as well as opening new marketing opportunities for Tatyoon woolgrower Tom Bibby.
With a clip already described as "one that wool classers fight for the chance to work on", the recent shift from running a mixed Merino and crossbred flock, to a 100 per cent Merino flock will only add weight to that.
Mr Bibby runs an operation that integrates a flock of 1800 Merino ewes plus progeny with an annual cropping program of 200 hectares on 520 hectares.
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The change in joining philosophy meant that starting in 2021, instead of joining cull young ewes and cast-for-age ewes to terminal sires, all ewes in the flock were joined to Merino rams.
Mr Bibby said he was coming up to 50 years in the sheep business and up until recently running Merinos and some crossbreds.
He has "dabbled" with crossbreds over the years but a combination of some health issues and his age has driven the swing over to all Merinos.
"For my operation, Merinos are much less work than adding crossbreds," he said.
"Merinos are just not as big as crossbreds and they're easier to handle, and I just like Merinos.
"I've had crossbreds, but my heart isn't really in them.
"I'm a one-man band and use contractors for shearing and crutching and up until this year I did the cropping mainly myself."
He runs about 1800 Merino ewes plus the same number of lambs and achieves lambing rates that average 100pc.
With the shift to fully Merino genetics, an additional 200-300 Merino ewes, previously put to a terminal sire, were being joined to Merino rams.
The additional Merino ewe progeny increased selection pressure as well as providing additional ewes for sale with the option of selling as either future breeders or as cast-for-age ewes.
The flock is classed in December and ewe hoggets are culled at about 20pc each year.
Mr Bibby said with increased numbers being bred, that culling percentage would rise this year and next.
Grown ewes normally cut 6-6.5 kilograms a head of 18-19-micron fleece, while the hoggets measured around 16-17 micron.
His aim is to breed ewes with longevity and which produce good-quality wool throughout their lifetime.
"I find the good crimpy wool means those sheep retain their micron around that 18-19 range even as old sheep," he said.
This year the wool measured a yield average of 75pc across the clip.
The two-year-olds microned at 18 and yielded 79pc - the highest ever.
Staple length of the clip is monitored to keep within specifications and the tensile strength measurement was usually in the mid to high 30s newtons per kilotex.
This season the clip was expected to return an average of around $90-$100 a head.
Mr Bibby said he had been buying rams from a nearby stud for many years, generally buying at the top end of the catalogue.
With the switch in 2021, they were a bit short on ram numbers and in 2022 purchased extra rams to meet the higher ewe numbers.
At the stud's 2022 ram sale, Mr Bibby bought seven rams to a sale top of $5500.
He selects poll rams for ease of handling, with big frames and "deep, crimpy" wool that will micron on the finer end.
"We just select the best rams in the sale and then we buy them," he said.
"I'm sure it's paid off over the years - you get a lot of lambs out of a ram if they are good."
Mr Bibby is a believer in having his sheep in good condition.
"I like to have the ewes nearly fat - if they're not you find out later that it affects your lambing percentages," he said.
"I feed a fair bit of barley, which is purchased from a neighbour.
"I start training ewes and lambs on grain in late November, December before weaning the lambs in mid-January.
"I normally don't have to worry then about the ewes, and I concentrate on the lambs, feeding them through the drier months."
Ewe and wether lambs are treated the same and split up after shearing.
Maiden ewes are joined in March to lamb as two-year-olds in spring.
Mr Bibby said that any earlier than the spring could be a problem with the increased chances of poor weather.
A drench capsule is used on lambs in May for worm control.
He said the wet season in 2022 had challenged sheep with some paddocks getting extremely wet.
"We keep a close eye on feet in the flock and make sure rams have good feet when we buy," he said.
Mr Bibby said the area was "terrific" for cropping with 200 hectares of the better-drained paddocks sown to canola and wheat annually.
Crops were normally sown with 80-100 kilograms a hectare of MAP and pasture paddocks are top dressed with 120kg a hectare of single superphosphate.
He said the pastures were clover and ryegrass sown at 20-25kg a hectare following cropping.
Mr Bibby said the dual income from wool and lambs for meat was a good combination.
"Even with the recent falls in lamb prices, the heavy lambs are still making good money," he said.
He said the wether lamb portion of the flock were shorn and then sold at around 24-26kg either on the hooks or in the yards.
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