Location: Parndana, Kangaroo Island
Property area: 800 ha (1,976 acres)
Enterprise: Seedstock breeder and prime lamb producer
Enterprise target: To lower our micron in our merino flock and to increase our wool cut at the same time.
Goals: To be a viable livestock producer whilst taking an environmentally sustainable approach to farming decisions.
Livestock: 5000 grown sheep, two-thirds mated to Merino rams for wool production and one-third joined to White Suffolk rams to produce prime lambs. He also runs 100 Angus-cross breeders and manages a White Suffolk stud of 300 ewes.
Pastures: typical sub-clover, rye grass and triticale
Soil types: Sandy loam gravel
Annual rainfall: 680mm
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23 January 2009
It is a typical dry summer with all the feed on the place having hayed off. The last fall of rain was mid-December which helped the improved pastures but it dried off fairly quickly - there is very little green on the place.
We are flat out getting the ewes prepared for AI and Embryo Transplants which we will start tomorrow. We are artificially inseminating 290 ewes and selecting 10 for the transplants, which will occur 6 days later.
We have been hand-feeding triticale to the weaners but I would say in a month’s time we will be supplementary feeding all the stock on the place. The yield wasn’t that high from the harvest but we are very grateful for what we have as hopefully it will get us through until the next fall of rain.
The crayfish numbers have picked up significantly, we might be having a belated Christmas lunch!_______________________________________________________________________________________
19 December 2008
We have had a decent amount of rain in the last 3 weeks which has helped. Although most of the place has hayed off. The improved pastures – perennial ryegrass, Italian ryegrass and kikuyu – have responded quickly.
The barley grass has been a problem on the island for the last 3 years, probably due to the poor consecutive springs we have experienced. Last year we were penalised due to the grass-seed getting into the wool clip. This year we delaying grazing until the seed falls.
We de-stocked the place last week through selling 520 wethers, 120 old ewes, 39 cows and their calves to the mainland and also sending 720 cross bred lambs on agistment near Adelaide. I am going up there tomorrow to see how they are going on the stubble.
The biggest issue with Christmas approaching is the lack of crayfish. We normally get good numbers from our crayfish-pots, and send them to neighbours for Christmas lunch. Hopefully numbers will pick up by next week…
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11 November 2008
We had a bit more rain in late October which helped with the crops but the rest of the place is starting to hay off. We planted 25ha of kikuyu in September to help us through the dry summer. The October rain helped slightly although it would have only had about 20mm since it went in. We are hoping to put stock on it by the end of the year but that obviously depends on the rainfall we get.
We are currently baling hay and in spite of the conditions we are getting a reasonable cut of about 300 rolls, which is only slightly below average. We are shearing the merino wethers which will then be ready to go to sale on the mainland, and the 800 weaned cross-bred lambs are going on agistment until I look at selling them in February. Despite the conditions the stock are all in pretty good order, including the 40 steers we sold to Woolworths recently.
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22 October 2008
There has been no sufficient rain for spring to set us up for summer but the place is still looking green and the wet July and August has provided us with enough water to keep us going through summer.
The stock are holding out well with the sheep in good condition and the cattle on 2500 acres of pine forest next door. The lambs are showing good weights as we get ready to begin weaning and crutching. Due to the season we are going to lighten off stock numbers. Although it won’t be one of our best wool cuts we have decided to shear the wethers and then sell about 600 of them, although I have contemplated sending them to Adelaide on agistment as there should be a lot of stubble around as they begin harvesting.
Our ram sale went well although the financial situation definitely made everyone cautious. We ended up passing in 19 rams, which isn’t bad in light of the situation, and averaged about $674, which is slightly down on last year.
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29 September 2008
We have lacked a bit of rain this month as well as little growth of feed due to the cool winter and August. The feed is looking very fresh as there is still a lot of ground moisture from the August rain. The livestock are all in good condition but there isn’t much dry matter for summer. If we get more rain in the next couple of months there will be good spring growth which should pull us through.
We have been aiming to lower our micron while maintaining our wool cut for the past 10 years. We have come from an average of a mid 23 micron clip ten years ago to a current flock with a mid 19 micron and still achieving a pretty good wool cut. With the use of the measuring tool MERINOSELECT, we have selected rams that will lower our micron in our breeding programme as well as maintain wool cut. We also have done a significant amount of micron and fleece weighing as well.
We have our ram sale on the 10th October. We are selling about 130 rams which normally go to buyers on the island.
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8 September 2008
We had great rainfall last month and now waiting on the warmer weather but spring is looking very promising especially with most of the dams being full. We have tailed all our commercial lambs and had above average lambing with the Merinos about 97% and the prime lambs 110%. The sheep were all in relatively good condition despite the cold weather and sparse feed.
We are heading down the route of breeding sheep that are worm resistant over the next 10 years. We are looking at genetics that are resistant to worms as many worms are becoming resistant to the drenches that are on the market. Both environmentally and economically we also see a huge benefit considering drenching accounts for about $8,000 - $10,000 per annum.
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11 August 2008
It has been very wet the past couple of weeks with above average rainfall for July. We have also had some good early August rainfall with runoff and seepage into the dams. Pastures are steadily growing but with two thousand of our commercial sheep having started lambing they are keeping its growth at a minimum.
Our predominant weed is Cape weed which we maintain by heavily grazing, apart from that, Kangaroo Island is pretty free of noxious weeds.
We sell most of our sheep directly to Woolworths who take them back to the mainland to be slaughtered. Our cattle are sold via auction and typically go onto feedlots before slaughter.
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18 July 2008
We have had some decent rain over the last week which is promising. We had 30mm on the weekend and since then it has been raining off and on, which should keep us on target for the July average rainfall. Kangaroo Island has had water shortages so we really need some good falls with runoff to fill up the dams and to prepare us for the summer months.
Overall Kangaroo Island has a pretty reliable rainfall. The island has not been over cleared and is very picturesque undulating country. We have fenced off all the natural vegetation and water courses as well as planted a lot more trees in the saline areas on the property.
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2nd July 2008
We have had below average rainfall for the opening of the season and will be concerned if there are no good falls over the next three months, which is when we normally get our highest rainfall. We rely on winter rainfall so it will be a concern if we don’t get any runoff. The Cygnet River only started flowing 10 days ago which is pretty late and it’s barely flowing; it is normally flowing rapidly by now.
We have been fully stocked for the last two dry seasons and have been supplementary feeding. Last year from mid January to mid May it was costing us $1000 a day to feed our sheep. The White Suffolk ewes have started lambing as well as the ewes we artificially inseminated.
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