AS SHEEP breeders across the State continue to cash in on the high prime lamb market, concern about the future ewe supply strengthens.
West Wyalong farmers, Paul Northey and John Staniforth, are long-time Merino breeders, who in the past two years have introduced terminal sires, and as of next year will not have young, surplus Merino ewes for sale.
They say this is typical of what’s happening in their district and despite their passion towards Merinos and the improved ewe prices, they still can’t justify joining any more Merino ewes to Merinos beyond what they need to regenerate their own flock.
The rest are joined to terminal sires.
What frustrates them most is while ewes have had a significant price boost, the demand for prime lambs doesn’t appear to have completely flowed through to the replacement ewe market.
Based at Kikoira, to the west of West Wyalong, Paul Northey runs “Innisfail” in the middle of traditional Merino breeding country.
His commitment to Merinos has been sorely tested recently and this year he has introduced terminal sires to his breeding operation.
“If we were (regularly) getting $150 to $160 for our (surplus) Merinos, we’d still be breeding them because that’s our passion,” he said.
“All the people that were in the ewe comp at Lake Cargelligo (a fortnight ago) have done the same thing as me – they’re joining all their old ewes to terminal sires.”
Mr Northey said he was worried about the long-term effects of this ewe supply trend on the lamb and mutton markets.
“What’s happening is just not sustainable – we need somebody to breed ewes,” he said.
Down the road at John Staniforth’s property, “Norwood”, Tallimba, it was the same story.
Mr Staniforth runs 1800 Merino ewes on 3035 hectares, which includes 1214ha of cropping.
Sheep have been the constant at “Norwood”, keeping things ticking over through the drought, including in 2006 and 2007 when he had complete crop failures.
“You’re always going to get wool and lambs – they’ve propped up the cropping operation since the drought started in 2002,” he said.
“At the end of the day the sheep are making a better return than cropping.”
However, he was still faced with the issue of his Merino ewes not making enough to justify growing them out, when he could make more from a prime lamb in less time.
Last October he sold 15-month-old Merino ewes for $120.
These are competing with his Border Leicester/Merino lambs, of which the ewe portion made $145 at nine months. A week later the wethers made $147 at the Griffith prime sale.
“That’s six months I’ve got to carry them (the Merinos) – that’s a big thing for me, not having to carry Merino lambs over summer,” he said.
But it’s not that Merinos aren’t making money.
Mr Northey’s flock is cutting $40 to $45 a ewe for wool, they then produce a lamb which in the past six months has sold for $120 to $147, depending on its sire, and then there’s the cast-for-age ewe sale value, which, with the strong mutton prices, goes a long way towards the cost a young replacement ewe.
Mr Northey said he couldn’t put his finger on any one factor that was hampering demand for Merino ewes, as there seemed to be many.
Among these were the trend towards other enterprises, such as cattle and cropping, the increasing age of farmers and the drought’s impact on stocking rates.
Mr Northey said of his 10 adjoining neighbours, one has gone completely out of sheep, another three have gone out of Merinos into prime lambs, and two were absentee farmers with no livestock.
The remainder were all running about 60 to 70 per cent of ewes compared to pre-drought stocking rates, he said.
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