Jasmine Whitten, Coo-ee, Ogunbil, took another step in her plan to develop a flock of about 600 Merino sheep on the family property at Ogunbil, near Dungowan.
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She was one of the buyers from the catalogue offered by the Glenburnie stud, Walcha. The ram had a micron of 18.3, a greasy fleece weight index of 92 and a coefficient of variation (CV) of 15.9 per cent.
Ms Whitten, who graduated from the University of New England with a Bachelor of Rural Science about five years ago and, in the quest to find an extension job, ended up at Cobar, where she worked with the Landcare movement.
"It was hard to find a job back then," she said. "I applied for one job with 200 applicants but was fortunate to get the job at Cobar."
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She then moved back to Tamworth after gaining a position with consultants Agripath, undertaking consultancy work from Roma in Queensland to Geelong in southern Victoria, working on topics as diverse as almonds to the more common sheep.
She moved home in March 2022 to assist her father, Phillip, with the cattle enterprise on Coo-ee, while her mother, Tammy, runs a station near the North Queensland town of Hughenden.
"I wanted to get into sheep to complement the cattle business. There's lots of grass, and I want to capitalise on the lower prices," she said.
Ms Whitten aims to breed a flock of medium to medium fine Merinos with a micron range between 16 up to 20-micron.
"When I came home, I planned to have 600 Merinos within three years," she said.
She said the property, which has been in the family for 100 years, has a woolshed and sheep yards built by her great-great-grandfather. While needing some work to smarten them up, they "work really well".
She says dealing with wild pig incursions has been time-consuming, and she will have to undertake a fencing program in the backcountry is more to bring these fences up to being stock proof. There is also the potential threat of wild dog incursions.
"It's far too rough to try and fence dogs out using an exclusion fence. So I have to learn to live with them and assess if I need to do more baits or look at bringing a trapper in. Time will tell.
"I'm still wading my way through this whole farming thing.
"I'll need to work more with my neighbours to organise baiting programs to get some control over the wild pigs," she said.
This week she was cutting lucerne hay from three rejuvenated creek flats on the property.
Lucerne hay is the highest value commodity we have, and it's going to be part of our drought strategy," she said.
Our only input has been the cost of the seed."
She said the past season had been kind to the young crops.
"July was so dry, but I knew rain was coming, so I took a chance to sow earlier.
"It was so wet in September and October, and we were lucky that we'd already planted, and the lucerne got the best start," she said.
November shearing of her flock meant fly-strike issues were minimised during the wet spring and summer.
"We haven't had many issues with our sheep," she said.