There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to farming but Geoff Brill of Glenvale, Ganmain is trying add more certainty to his profit margins by incorporating a simple management process.
Mr Brill, who breeds second cross lambs out of first cross ewes and his Poll Dorset rams, has started measuring the average daily growth weight of a sample of his lambs in containment. This enables him to more accurately calculate how the lambs' value stacks up to the cost of feed.
"If you're setting target weights to sell them over the hooks, you know how long you're going to feed them for," Mr Brill said.
"You can't work it out if you don't measure them.
"We were just guessing before, you knew by looking at them they were putting weight on but you had no idea how much."
The value of the first mob lambs he's been regularly measuring has definitely outweighed their feed costs.
At Thursday's Wagga sheep sale, Mr Brill sold a pen of his second cross lambs for $331.20 a head.
The formidable price came after the 103 July-August drop lambs on offer were put through a feed lot for eight weeks, fed a diet of barley, faba beans and wheat.
Mr Brill said at the sale the group weighed on average 78-79kg per head, but some were as heavy as 94kg.
"They were gaining weight all the time, but it ranged from 250g/day to up to 400g/day, it depended on the weather a bit," he said.
"The price per kilo's jumped from $7/kg to $9/kg which is obviously great and it makes the profit margin very good.
"It's good to be selling, rather than buying."
Mr Brill said he had the lambs on Lucerne but all 420 of his Spring 2018 drop had to go into feed lots two months ago when the paddock feed diminished.
He said the lambs he sold this week were the first of the Spring drop lambs he's offered and he'll continue to sell the rest of the drop at the Wagga saleyards over the next six weeks.
"We have some more lambs ready, so we'll have another go next week," he said.
