Verner begins to rebuild flock

Mr Verner suspected that floods, drought-like conditions, extreme hot and cold temperatures during joining and other factors contributed to lambing percentages decreasing by more than 25 per cent.

"We basically bought 600, 13-month-old to 1.5-year-old ewes to replace what we had lost and to increase what we will have in the future," he said.

"The weather during mating was unseasonably hot and the summer just made it worse.

"To avoid further soil erosion during summer and autumn we also had to feedlot the entire flock."

Mr Verner hoped that by buying in breeding stock, he would avoid a time delay in rebuilding the flock and potentially miss out on increased sheep and lamb demand in the coming seasons.

"We did some thinking about whether or not we should solider on and pull out all the stops to maximise lambing percentages back to 90 per cent in the flock that was left," he said.

"After looking at the potential return, we decided to get a head start by buying in more ewes to increase our lamb drop and hopefully at the same time increase the percentage too."

Mr Verner said although it would take time to pay off the investment into more breeders "it was worth it".

"We have lived off the return from our sheep for the past couple of years - everything else on the farm has been treading water," he said.

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"Despite the lower lambing percentages, the sheep have been the most reliable during tough seasons."

The Verners run 1250 breeding Merino ewes, with up to 300 ewe lambs across 400 hectares to 1900ha, but breeder numbers will increase to 1700.

Sixty per cent of Merino ewes are joined to Merino rams as a self-replacing flock and the balance are run with Suffolk rams, with lambs sold over the hooks.

To further increase a chance of improved lambing percentages, the ewe nutrition program will be "micro-managed" combined with pregnancy testing and predator management.

"We will be watching ewe nutrition by type and timing," Mr Verner said.

"During supplementary feeding of hay and grain during pre-lambing, we will focus on ewe calcium levels and fat scores," he said.

"If the return is there, you need to support that investment."

Mr Verner said in the past, lamb predators such as foxes had not caused too many losses but last season, the pest had made an impact.

"We will be ramping up fox baiting," he said.

MAKING a decision to increase Merino breeder numbers this season was easier than expected for Richard Verner, Korunye, but he said having a contingency plan, existing infrastructure and an ability to source feed was crucial.

Mr Verner said "scaling up" could be daunting for many producers.

"If you were beginning from scratch with sheep or did not have a way to feed sheep during a tough season, I could see why some people would not make the investment," he said.

"We already have the infrastructure, grow hay and we also have a lot of cropping stubble we can utilise.

"But you cannot bank on that system every year so you need a contingency plan - effectively we used all hay reserves this year and have just refilled four years' worth of hay."

Mr Verner also said he could carry 1500 sheep in an on-farm feedlot.

"In real terms we fed out about $200,000 worth of hay and grain in the past 12 months because of the dry conditions," he said.

"We were feeding in one capacity or another from December last year onward."

Mr Verner believed the timing for a return on investment could vary but was confident demand for sheep would continue to provide a stable return.

"A tractor can be used again but it is pretty rare that you could sell a second-hand tractor at the end of its life for more than 50 per cent of the new value," he said.

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