A MERINO enterprise works well with farming at “Bullagreen”, Gilgandra, owned by Hugh and Sally Beveridge, who run the flock with help from their daughters Alex and Camilla.
The family uses genetics from Wyuna Merinos, owned by Mr Beveridge’s brother Angus. The focus is on horned, large-framed, heavy cutting rams with good reproductive traits.
“The Wyuna genetics are renowned for great ewe quality but even my wethers are selling well every year, whether as lambs or if I keep them a bit longer,” Mr Beveridge said.
The Beveridges run 1100 breeding ewes, with about 500 hogget ewes retained each year.
Surplus ewes are sold at five-and-a-half years of age, along with the remaining 18-month-old hoggets.
The wethers are sometimes sold as lambs, but Mr Beveridge has been keeping about 500 for wool.
“If I've got feed after a good summer or spring, I'll usually hold onto them with the wool market being so high,” he said.
“But if things are tight I sell them as a six-month-old lamb after being on stubble and I’ll give them a bit of grain in a feeder.”
Merinos work well with the farming, cleaning up stubble and weeds.
Lambs are usually sold through the yards, but have gone over the hooks and directly to other restockers who need more woolgrowers.
While the “stubble munchers” do their bit, the main focus is on the breeding operation.
“I like to keep my feed for my lambing ewes to keep them in good condition,” Mr Beveridge said.
“We lock up a few paddocks so there's not so much pressure on the grazing program – nutrition is main thing when a ewe is lambing.”
Ewes are joined in January for six to seven weeks, but can be longer depending on the heat. Having a flexible joining period to suit the weather is resulting in good lambing percentages, with up to 130 per cent lambing in previous years.
“With that sort of percentage I’m pretty happy with not scanning at the moment,” Mr Beveridge said.
“I will get rid of dry ewes after lambing, but with the wool market being so good, I hold onto any dry ewes until after shearing. I normally give the maiden ewes another go to see if they can get it right the second time around.”
The family’s persistence with Merinos through the tough years has paid off.
“Our father stuck with Merinos through the tough times – he was passionate about the Merino and knew what it could produce, wool-wise as well as the meat quality, and they have the ability to do that year after year.
“They’re an amazing animal that’s doing very well for us – it’s a fantastic breed.”
Ruth Schwager
Ruth Schwager is a journalist with the national agricultural features team.
Ruth Schwager is a journalist with the national agricultural features team.
