PITLOCHRY Station near Salt Creek in the state's Upper South East has developed a great reputation as a supplier of large lines of first-cross ewe and wether lambs bred to perform.
The 9000-hectare property near the Coorong has been owned by Adelaide's Lowe family since 1954.
It is now managed by Robert Giles and runs about 4000 Merino ewes and 800 Poll Hereford breeders.
About 1400 of the Merino ewes of lesser wool quality and the older age groups have been mated to Border Leicesters for decades to breed prime lamb mothers.
"It is good healthy sheep country if it is managed properly," Mr Giles said.
"The lambs seem to do well here and the Border Leicester-Merino makes the best prime lamb mother," he said.
The mature cows are all mated to Poll Herefords with the heifers to Angus.
The target market for the March-April drop progeny are the Naracoorte weaner sales in Naracoorte.
Mr Giles believes the returns are consistently better in first-cross than second-cross prime lamb production, especially with the wool from Merino ewes worthy significantly more than that from crossbred ewes.
The complete drop of their May-June drop Merino-Border Leicester lambs are sold on AuctionsPlus each year, largely going to repeat buyers in the SE and into the western Wimmera in Vic.
"We are getting many repeat buyers especially with our ewe lambs," he said.
Pitlochry's lambs were once sold woolly, but because of buyer demand they are now shorn in mid September and drafted into weights ahead of sale in late October.
They are all vaccinated with B12 and have a light tail strip.
The sale time may vary slightly from year-to-year to ensure it is just before the pastures dry off and silver grass seeds becoming an issue.
"We sell them in up to 200 to 300 a line and we find the bigger the lines the better the competition," Mr Giles said.
"By quitting all the first-cross lambs we don't have so many stock to carry through over summer."
* Full report in Stock Journal, September 18, 2014 issue.