White Suffolk sires are the perfect match for quality Merino ewes in the Balkin family’s first-cross lamb enterprise at Glenthompson, Vic.
Luke and Stacey Balkin, children William, Ava and Olivia, and Luke’s parents Frank and Betty, decided to diversify their Merino fine wool enterprise more than 15 years ago in an effort to increase marketing opportunities for their sheep.
The crossbred operation, which comprises 3800 ewes, is run alongside the family’s self-replacing flock of 3960 Merino ewes across several properties in the Western District, totalling 1820 hectares.
But wool remains the Balkin family’s first love and they are making the most of the recent high prices, running 6000 Merino wethers for fine wool production as well.
They also crop 182ha of canola and wheat.
“Wool wasn’t so good in the early 2000s so we made a decision to focus on our ewe operation and move into meat production by breeding first-cross lambs,” Mr Balkin said.
“Our business model is set up on profit in dollars per hectare so we don’t focus too much on price per head but historically I am happy with a price above $115 a head to $120.
“Stocking rate and labour efficiency are our key profit drivers so we aim to run 12 ewes/ha and hope to achieve a net profit per dry sheep equivalent of $50/ha for the 2018-19 financial year.
“Over a long period of time, our benchmarking data shows the terminal flock is our most productive enterprise on the farm, even when taking into account the purchase cost of the ewes from our wool enterprise.
“We are getting the best of both worlds, with the dual-purpose benefits of wool and meat.”
All surplus ewes, including cast-for-age ewes and young ewes not selected for use in the main wool producing flock, are joined to White Suffolk rams.
The Balkin family’s Merino sheep are all Wurrook-blood and the flock averages 18 micron.
Mr Balkin has been sourcing White Suffolk rams from the Clothier family’s Woolumbool stud, Lucindale, for the past eight years, selecting high-performing sires that complement the Merino ewes.
“I initially did some research and decided White Suffolks, as a fast-growing meat sheep breed, would be a good mix with our Merino ewes,” he said.
“The Woolumbool rams are paddock-reared and I have been really impressed with their figures.”
Australian Sheep Breeding Values for low birthweight and growth traits including weaning weight, post-weaning weight and eye muscle depth are targeted in the terminal sires.
“In the early days we just went and bought big White Suffolk rams, which created problems with our Merino ewes at lambing, birthweight is now something I really focus on.
“Any high birthweight rams I just cut out straight away. No matter how good their figures are, I know they are not going to be suitable for us.
“We have also focused on above breed average figures for growth as the rams are being joined to Merino ewes and that’s something we need to work on.”
Body type and structural soundness are also important and Mr Balkin will combine his catalogue selection with a visual assessment of the rams on sale day.
Last year, the Balkins bought 18 Woolumbool rams, but generally average about 10 to 15 rams annually.
“I look for a solid ram that stands up properly and is not sitting back in its pasterns, with good feet and bone structure.”
The terminal flock are run on a separate block, Devondale, south of Dunkeld, Vic, and are joined in March to lamb in August. Scanning rates are about 130 per cent to 140pc while lambs marked per ewe joined average between 95pc and 100pc.
Mr Balkin aims to have ewes in condition score 3 at joining and maintain their condition through until lambing.
Targeted urea applications are used to manipulate pasture growth and ensure there is sufficient feed available.
The pastures comprise a mix of ryegrass, phalaris and subclovers.
“Running on the separate block suits our enterprise mix really well, it is a later finishing block so has green feed for a lot longer,” he said.
Lambs are sold from December through to May, depending on the season, at about 22kg dressedweight. The majority of lambs will be marketed on-the-hooks, with a large portion going to MC Herd, Geelong, Vic.
“I like selling the lambs over the hooks as you know what you are going to get, you know the grid and the price and can go from there,” Mr Balkin said.
“But sometimes the yards can be really red-hot so we will go with that, we like to keep a flexible marketing strategy.
“Last year the market was so hot, most of the lambs went straight away, you couldn’t afford to keep hold of them, but in other years we’ll make the most of our crops and if we get good rains through the summer we’ll hold onto them.”
As part of their pasture renovation program, the Balkin family will sow about 100-150ha of Greenland rape and barley as summer crops in September.
Any lambs not sold as suckers will be weaned in December and graze the summer crop paddocks until they reach the target liveweight.