“I like to sell well-finished and grown-out lambs,” prime lamb producer Terry Goldsworthy, “Corallie”, Junee, said.
“For me, it is a matter of pride in selling good quality export-weight lambs.”
On the 1300-hectare property, Mr Goldsworthy operates in partnership with his wife Kay, 3500 adult sheep are grazed alongside 160ha of oats grown for grain.
The backbone of the sheep enterprise is the flock of Bond ewes, run as a self-replacing flock when joined to rams from Trigger Vale, Lockhart.
“We join our cull ewes and two oldest ages of our Bond flock to Poll Dorset rams,” Mr Goldsworthy said.
“My father bred Bonds, and we continue with them because they give us a fairly good wool clip and and a lamb . . . they are a true dual-purpose breed.”
Poll Dorset rams are selected for the size of their frames, with good conformation and well covered.
“I go for the top end because they are the type of sheep I need for my enterprise to maintain the standard of my export lambs,” he said.
Mr Goldsworthy has two lambings: the main one during autumn, and following scanning, dry ewes are joined for a spring lambing.
“The spring lambing used to be a ‘catch-up’, but we are moving towards making it our main lambing because of better lamb prices, not as many problems with feed and increased lambing percentages,” he said.
“We shear in August, and I wean all my lambs beforehand.
“It makes my workload easier, as I do all the wool classing as well as mustering the sheep.”
Mr Goldsworthy does most of the work, but is ably assisted by his daughter Lauren when she is not studying an agricultural course at Riverina TAFE, Wagga Wagga.
But last year, the Goldsworthy family had their lives turned around when Lauren was rushed to hospital in Sydney to have life-changing surgery where she received new lungs, which were needed as a result of cystic fibrosis.
Raising awareness for Donate Life week, the proceeds of 108 heavy lambs sold at the Wagga Livestock Marketing Centre for $240 each was donated by Terry and Kay Goldsworthy to the Lung Transplant Research Fund.
They were purchased by Southern Meats, Thomas Foods, JBS and The Australian Lamb Company, and marketing fees and commission was waived ensuring gross proceeds were made to the fund.
Mr Goldsworthy said he “can’t expect prices to get any dearer.”
“I feel that although prices are at a very good level, I don’t think they are sustainable at current values,” he said. “I am concerned about buyer resistance from consumers.”
