MERINOS are the main focus of the Graetz family’s operation at Keyneton, but Border Leicesters have also proven valuable.
Kym Graetz and his wife Emma farm alongside Kym’s semi-retired father James.
They run about 2200 sheep and crop about 200 hectares.
“We started with Border Leicesters in 2000,” James said.
“I just thought that, rather than relying on the wool market or prime lambs, no matter what, there would always be a demand for ewe lambs and breeding ewes.”
James started off buying Border Leicester rams from former breeder Malcolm Kemp at Eden Valley, and then followed his bloodlines when the Belmont stud, Springton, bought his stock after Mr Kemp wound up his enterprise.
On the Merino side, Nyowee and Bunyara rams are used for their white wool and good-framed sheep.
Lambing percentages using these bloodlines have been pleasing, with Merinos about 100 per cent.
Crossbreds are averaging lambing percentages of 110pc.
The Graetz family have been farming at Keyneton since 1948, with Kym the third generation on-farm.
As well as the home block at Keyneton, the Graetz family also lease land at Eden Valley.
Shearing is done in February and lambs drop in August or September.
With the cropping program, a major focus is on stock feed.
“We grow some oats that we sell privately for sheep feed, but the rest stays at home for our stock,” Kym said.
They also crop triticale and barley, as well as a bit of vetch and lupins as a break crop.
For the Graetz family, working with local pig producers the Blenkiron family of the Gumshire stud has a range of benefits.
“We sell all our grain to the piggery down the road (the Blenkirons) and also to a dairyfarmer at Keyneton,” Kym said.
“We also use a lot of the manure from the piggery on our cropping ground.
“We’ve been doing that for the past five years and have been getting good results from it. The crops just seem to hang on better and get going a lot better. The piggery also buys straw from us for their eco-shelters and we get the manure from them, so it’s locals helping locals.”
Regular market sellers
GRAETZ Family Trust is a familiar name at the Mount Pleasant saleyards, with the Keyneton family regularly topping the annual first-cross sale.
“We usually always sell in the top percentage of the sale, which is why we’ll be sticking with it,” Kym Graetz said.
“Apart from shearing the ewes in October, in preparation for the sale in November, we don’t do much to get them ready for the sale. I think the breeding in them is enough to get them up to where we want them to be.”
With summer here, the Graetz family are focused on ensuring their stock stay in good condition.
They have been using WeatherPro sheep lick for the past three years in summer, to help their sheep utilise the dry feed better and ensure the stock are getting their nutritional requirements.
Grain feeders are also put out during summer and they produce their own hay to keep on-hand during summer.
“We haven’t started feeding out hay yet, we’ll probably start feeding it out to the ewes and lambs (pictured left) in early January,” Kym said.
“While feed is starting to run out, we’re lucky to have had good sheep feed pretty much all the way through this year.”
Rainfall has been below average at 380 millimetres this year, with the average usually 500mm, but Kym said luckily it fell at the right times.
iPhone app Agriwebb has proved useful on-farm.
“It has a map of the farm that shows you where your sheep are, when you moved them and when you drenched them. It also tells you the withholding period on them and their eartags,” Kym said.
