THERE’S no pulling the wool over Alex Coole-Bembrick’s eyes when it comes to the future of the sheep industry.
Alex, 26, with the support of her parents Richard and Debbie Coole, has been managing her family’s 42,000-head (at peak) sheep flock for about five years.
The key to her success lies in the breeding program and management strategies associated with the Coole family’s easy-care, dual-purpose, worm-resistant and robust Merinos – especially given some of the relatively wet and low-lying parts of the family’s Frankland farm in Western Australia's Great Southern region.
The production of worm burdens and fly-blown animals was strategically avoided due to the flock’s long and waxy-type staple, non-existent wrinkle and 20- 21-micron fleece.
Centre Plus and Merinotech bloodlines have long been utilised to achieve this goal, with the Cooles even going as far as breeding their own rams in order to achieve perfect sires for their production system – which they had been doing for some years now.
As one of the largest and most finely-tuned commercial Merino flocks in WA, the Coole family’s sheep are rigorously tested throughout the year to ensure peak performance.
Technology 'best friend'
New technology is also being embraced to help maintain flock performance.
DNA testing eliminated the risk of inbreeding within the flock and provided serious analysis of the ‘stud flock’ from which the rams are bred.
Each year, four dag scores are recorded, as well as two worm egg count tests on individual rams and numerous wool evaluations.
“Technology is our best friend,” Alex said.
“We have eliminated pregnancy scanning because our thorough approach to flock testing means we produce next to no dry ewes.”
Alex’s flock had achieved a lambing percentage of 120 per cent during the past few years.
However, some 17,000 dry sheep do form an exit plan or safety net in case the season turns bad, or there are unforeseen circumstances which prompt a sale.
The complete elimination of horns also helps to streamline the flock’s management at the change of season.
Some 850-900 bales of wool are forward sold throughout the year and Alex has already committed half the 2015 clip due to what she called a perfect start to the season.
“We locked up our sheep paddocks about a month ago following the first rains,” she said.
“We’re letting mobs onto them now and have stopped trail feeding them, which we had been doing since February.”
As well as cutting surplus paddocks for silage, 350 to 400 hectares of fodder crop eliminates the need for hand-feeding new mothers for six to eight weeks, and an August lambing helps to ensure a greater lamb survival rate because of the warming weather.
Ryegrass and clover crops planted in the summer months allow Alex and her family to run up to 50 dry sheep equivalent (DSE), but currently it stood at 30 DSE on the two-year-old fodder paddocks.
China's impact
Alex said the future of the WA and Australian wool industry was bright because of China’s growing middle class.
It had also been buoyed by recent solid prices.
“The motivation for me to remain involved in wool, and even aim to improve our business model, comes from knowing that there’s no need for us to make the task hard for ourselves,” she said.
“In our situation, it’s a matter of streamlining the management strategies in order to cope with the sheer quantity of sheep we have on the farm”.
Alex said it also helped to get your selling tactics right. “But most of all, you have to love what you do, like I do.”