A young Tasmanian prime lamb producer with an impressive commitment to lifetime learning has been recognised with an ACM Agri Lambition Award in Bendigo.
Mr Denholm, 26, Norton Mandeville, Tas, was awarded the Zoetis 2023 Prime Lamb Producer of the Year title at the Australian Sheep & Wool Show.
Zoetis livestock marketing manager and award judge Daniel Guest said Mr Denholm's commitment to improving objective data to produce high-quality lambs with better eating qualities should be commended.
He said he looked forward to following what Mr Denholm did in the future for Australia's sheep industry.
Mr Denholm is a livestock manager for the Salmon family's lamb-breeding operation, at Norton Mandeville, and said he completed a Bachelor of Agribusiness at Marcus Oldham College because he realised he always wanted to get a tertiary education following school.
Prior to his degree, he spent time picking up practical skills at several NSW Merino properties, including Egelabra, Eenaweena and Pooginook.
"I realised it was then about the right time to get my Bachelor of Agribusiness," Mr Denholm said.
He started work as Norton Mandeville's livestock manager at the beginning of 2021.
It is there where he oversees the management and husbandry of 13,500 composite ewes and a smaller stud flock.
"Prime lambs were not somewhere I saw myself heading, but it was a very good opportunity to learn another aspect of the sheep industry on a much more intensive scale," Mr Denholm said.
He said he was committed to lifetime learning, as he was passionate about doing things as well as he could.
"I don't like mediocre, I am quite particular about getting things right - it's all about driving a profitable business and there is always the 2-3 per cent there on which you can improve," he said.
Mr Denholm said Norton Mandeville used Primeline maternal ewes and Lambpro rams from the Bull family's operation in Holbrook, NSW.
"They are a well-known and marketable product," he said
"If you have a line of store lambs on AuctionsPlus, and buyers see the Lambpro genetics, it is quite a bit of a selling point."
Lambpro had a "huge emphasis" on genetics, which helped Norton Mandeville breed better lambs by changing the shape of ewes and improving early-maturing traits.
"We are looking for an easy-care sheep, so we are putting a fair amount of focus on worm egg counts to try and get away from drenching," Mr Denholm said.
"With our intensive operation, resistance is quite a concern for us."
There was also an emphasis on eye muscle and fat.
"We are also looking for structure, good make and shape - not too much leg, good depth of body and spring of rib for those early-maturing lambs," Mr Denholm said.
The property was contracted to the Coles Tasmanian GRAZE program, while it also sold lambs to the Australian Lamb Company, Colac, Hardwicks of Kyneton and Tasmanian Quality Meats, Cressy, Tas.
With a lack of processing capacity in Tasmania, at least 85pc of lambs went to Victoria which was, "a struggle we deal with from time-to-time."
After a tight start to the season, the property had a "decent" autumn break.
Mr Denholm said the property enjoyed a 160pc lambing rate for mixed-aged ewes, with only a 2pc dry.
"We are getting there with twinning rates, but there is still at least another 10pc to be had in the next couple of years by getting our timing a little bit better and looking after ewes post-weaning," he said.
Mr Denholm said he had his wool-classing certificate, he had finished the Lifetime Ewe course and was enrolled in Meat & Livestock Australia's Towards 90 (T-90) program.
"We are doing the managing maternal ewe condition score module, which is quite relevant to improving lamb survival, because we are running such high stocking rates," he said.
And while wool provided a secondary income, it was still an important aspect of the operation.
Mr Denholm was recently selected to attend the Australian Wool Network's International tour to New Zealand, alongside a small number of prominent producers from across the country.
"We went to ZQ Natural Fibres, Christchurch, which is a quality-assurance body we market our wool through to prove we have an ethically produced wool," he said.
"Cross-bred wools are at quite a discount at the moment, so we do everything we can do.
"We might as well be capitalising on any little free ride we can."
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
