Since making the switch from Merino wool production to prime lamb in the late 1990s, Julie and John Whitby, Cowra, have enjoyed the added flexibility awarded to them by their crossbred flock.
They now run 1800 crossbred ewes on their 768-hectare property, “Mount Pleasant”, and 364ha of leased land, and find they have far more options with the ability to access multiple markets.
The venture began in 1996 in partnership with Mrs Whitby’s parents who retired from the business last year.
The family ran Merinos for several years before making the switch to second-cross lambs in response to a strong prime lamb market and dwindling returns for wool.
The Whitbys haven't completely left behind the old ways, still retaining about 500 Merino ewes which are joined with Border Leicester rams to produce first-cross ewes.
The crossbred ewes are joined in October, for lambing in March, allowing the family to prepare the young lambs for sale before winter.
“We like to have the lambs on the ground early to have them ready for prime lamb markets by mid to late July,” Mr Whitby said.
“Although it was a bit earlier this year due to the season we had, generally we like to be selling a good portion of the second-cross lambs in August and beat the rush of new season prime lamb coming into the sales.”
Ewes are joined with Poll Dorset rams, purchased from Rodney Watt, Felix Dorset stud, Greenehorpe.
Mr Whitby said that the Dorset rams over first-cross ewes simply produced the highest quality second-cross lambs that he had seen.
Maiden ewes are joined with Suffolk rams to eliminate lambing problems.
“We find for the first time, calving is a lot easier with a Suffolk lamb than with a Dorset,” Mr Whitby said.
Ewes are pregnancy scanned in January, and rams are rejoined with any ewes not in lamb.
The Whitbys have the benefit of selling their second-cross lambs through a variety of outlets, depending on the quality of the season and strength of the market.
“We can sell some over the hooks, and some to the saleyards locally,” Mr Whitby said.
“We are able to be very flexible, this year we have sold at both, just depends on how good the hook price is, and how the markets is at the yards.”
Mr Whitby said the season had been in dire straights prior to some much-needed local rain at the beginning of August.
“We ended up getting three falls of rain, totalling about 60mm, so that has come at a perfect time for the second-cross lambs,” he said.
Prior to lambing in March, ewes are drenched, given a shot of Eryvac to prevent arthritis in the lambs and a 6-in-1.
