Turning off heavier Merino wether lambs from Oxton Park, Harden, has been attributed to a number of factors by Brad Cavanagh, stock manager for the O'Connor family who have held the 8000 hectare aggregation since 1920.
Not the least has been the fantastic early autumn break, but Mr Cavanagh also acknowledges superior genetics has lifted flock performance.
This season the operation has sold close to 5500 10 - 11 month Poll Merino wether lambs, with an average dressed weight around 28kg having been shorn of a 2.5kg fleece at five months.
With the 17.5 micron fleece returning $29.50 and the carcase average of $250, company principal Paul O'Connor noted they are probably are the best performing Merino lambs in the history of Oxton Park's 100 years.
"The pleasing aspect has been to see the steady but consistent improvement of fleece weight, growth rate and fertility over the last eight years since we've been using Bundilla and Poll Boonoke genetics in conjunction with our sheep classer Chris Bowman," Mr O'Connor said.
The district had missed out on good spring growth in 2019 and Mr Cavanagh supplementary fed the ewes which imprinted grain feeding on the lambs.
"Through the summer the lambs grazed on wheat stubble with a light trail feed a couple of days a week," he said.
"That was enough to keep them ticking along with minimal investment."
The lead 2400 wether lambs were shorn in late January while the balance were shorn in March.
"We had an early autumn break which allowed good growth of the hyola 970 canola which we were able to graze from 10 April," Mr Cavanagh said.
"That was a month earlier than usual for our crops.
"We weighed the lambs on entry with an average liveweight of 46.5kg across 5500."
Whilst pasture and grazing crop growth through the winter has been welcomed on Oxton Park, it has caused some husbandry issues with the ewes.
Mr Cavanagh noted it is easy in a very good season for the pregnant ewes to get over fat which causes many challenges.
"If they get too heavy it can be detrimental if constantly waking on wet ground," he said.
"We had been time controlling the amount of time the pregnant ewes have on pasture and grazing crop to try to keep them fit leading up to lambing."
Success with home-bred rams
Obviously the current season has been fantastic, but Mr Cavanagh also pointed to the success of breeding their own rams in reaching their current productive peak.
"The focus on the operation is high fertility, early growth rates, high carcase value and optimum fleece weights with in non-mulesed production system," he said.
"We have been accumulating high yearling growth genetics with an early maturity pattern over the past decade and we are now seeing the best lambs turned off Oxton Park in the last 100 years."
There is 10,500 strong ewe base on Oxton Park, including 400 elite ewes which are AI'd to industry leading sires to breed replacement rams the commercial flock.
"There are a number of reasons we breed our own rams," Mr Cavanagh said.
"It is cost effective with the number of rams we need and the quality we strive for.
"We could easily pay $3000 to $4000 for the quality of ram we desire."
Mr Cavanagh further noted they are able to use ram lambs at five months of age which allows access to their best genetics to lift productivity across the flock.
The Oxton Park flock is classed by Hay-based Chris Bowman who selects those ewes which thrive in the high rainfall environment on the South West Slopes.
"We aim for bright, free growing well-nourished wools with length of staple, density and character," Mr Cavanagh said.
"The subjectivity of selecting for skin, body and structure combined with the objectivity of performance records around growth, fertility and fleece weight seems to be working well."
Mr Cavanagh noted real gains in the performance of the Oxton Park flock have been achieved particularly with early growth rates.
"Our 2019-drop AI progeny were our first drop to be recorded with Merino Select so that will give us some flock genetic to assist our selection."
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