QUALITY Poll Dorset sires are a perfect match for Merino ewes in the Hampel family's sheep enterprise at Kapunda, with their fast-growing sucker lambs in strong demand from SA processors.
David and Lauren Hampel, and their children Claire and Riley, run a mixed farming operation across 97 hectares of owned and leased land north of the Barossa Valley and are also involved with their family's farms in the region, including pastoral country near Morgan.
They run 500 Merino ewes, joined to Poll Dorset terminal sires to produce quality first-cross lambs, along with a self-replacing Merino flock of 200 ewes and a small herd of Angus cows.
Several paddocks are sown to barley and vetch for sheep feed.
Supplementing their farm income, Mrs Hampel works as a public relations specialist at Yalumba, while Mr Hampel shears seasonally.
During the past five years, the couple have focused their efforts on a quick turnaround of lambs to take advantage of the high prices available in the new season sales.
"We've been quite successful, if we can get our April-born lambs ready for sale by the end of August, that's when we get our best bang for buck," Mrs Hampel said.
"Last year we started lambing on April 6 and were able to sell the first draft of lambs at four months of age on August 19 on the hooks.
"The lambs averaged 45.5 kilograms live weight and dressed at 22.9kg, so nearly 50 per cent of their live weight, and we received nearly $200 a head for them.
"That's probably been our best result so far and we were thrilled."
The Hampels have been sourcing their Poll Dorset rams from the Rowett family's Ulandi Park stud at nearby Marrabel, selecting high-performing sires that will complement their Rices Creek-blood Merino ewes.
"Our priority is selecting low birth weight rams for ease of lambing as we are conscious we are putting them over smaller Merino ewes," Mrs Hampel said.
"Structural soundness is also important and we like a ram that is fairly aerodynamic with smooth shoulders and a finer head for a quick and easy birth.
"We'll also look at their growth rates, particularly post weaning weight, and prefer to select twin or triplet-born rams for increased fertility."
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The ewes are joined in early November, working on a ratio of one ram per 50 ewes, with both old and young rams used in each mob to maximise competition.
In the lead-up to joining, the ewes are run on quality spring pastures and will graze stubbles throughout the summer before being supplementary fed grain as they approach lambing.
"Usually the break of season is around the end of April and our pasture and grazing crops get up and going so we can get them onto some quality feed paddocks by June," Mrs Hampel said.
"This year has been a different story, because we've had such a late start to the season we've had to trail feed barley twice a week for much longer, usually we would have stopped in May or June.
"But the recent rain has been excellent."
Although they have pregnancy scanned in the past, the Hampels are not concerned about separating multiple and twin-bearing ewes from the singles, preferring to run a mix of ewes together.
"We feel there is better herd protection from predators if there are some strong ewes among those with twins and triplets, we feel it is better to keep the numbers up," Mrs Hampel said.
"The rams are joined for about three months and then we assess the ewes for signs of pregnancy and any empty ewes are separated and re-joined for a further two months.
"The benchmark is 100pc lamb marking rates, but this can vary depending on the season."
The Hampel family aim to have their first-cross lambs ready to market as new season lambs from the end of August onwards with an average live weight of 45kg targeted.
Most of the lambs are sold directly over the hooks to JBS Australia at Bordertown.
"If the ewes are looking healthy, we aren't too quick to wean as we have found the lambs get up to weight more quickly on their mums with sufficient feed," Mrs Hampel said.
"But if the ewes look like they're getting a bit hollow and going backwards and you can't visually see that growth each week, then we will wean them 12 to 14 weeks of age.
"Last year we had one mob that we weaned and one that we didn't, and the lambs we didn't wean were 1kg heavier at sale time.
"The weaning process certainly seems to put them back for a week or two with their growth so we need to make a judgement on that, depending on the season and feed."
The lambs are drafted off weekly or fortnightly as they reach saleable weight until the majority are sold before harvest.
Any remaining lambs and late-droppers are shorn and finished on high quality stubble feed including beans or barley and marketed in the following year.
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