IMPROVING the overall profitability of the Merino is the main objectives of the breeding program at the House family's Barloo stud.
The stud is run as part of a large commercial operation on 8000 hectares in the Gnowangerup and Tambellup shires and has soil types ranging from sand to gravel to red clay.
As part of the operation the family crops 3700ha to wheat, barley and canola so the Houses are well placed to know that Merinos and cropping enterprises complement each other extremely well.
Along with the stud the House family runs a large commercial Merino flock shearing 16,000 sheep annually.
This means Barloo principals Richard and Cindy House are able to constantly monitor their objectives and see how well sheep and cropping complement each other.
They mate 8000 ewes annually which means they are continually benchmarking the stud's performance and know how their genetics perform in a commercial sense.
Barloo stud principal Richard House said this was a great asset to the stud as they knew exactly how the Barloo rams were performing in a commercial sense and what clients wanted for their commercial operation.
The operation lambs in July and is averaging between 98 to 101 per cent lambing over mated ewes.
On the wool side of the coin the grown sheep flock has an average cut of 7.6kg and in February the operation's fleece wool averaged $10 a kilogram.
The growth rates it achieves in its sheep allow it to shear all its wether lambs at 12 months before most of them are sold into the lamb trade.
But it is not only the House family which has been achieving excellent results with the Barloo bloodline, so too have their clients.
These include Pingrup producer Kelvin Holmes who sold his surplus 1.5-year-old ewes bare shorn on farm for $145, while many clients have been achieving top prices for their wool throughout the year.
The House family is looking forward to this year's ram sale after already having a successful start to the Merino season with good interest at their field day and the Rabobank WA Sheep Expo & Sale.
Between the two events the stud sold three rams.
These included a full wool Poll Merino sire which sold in the Rabobank WA Sheep Expo & Sale for $15,000 to Argentine stud Rio Pico, while during the field days it negotiated the private sale of a young Merino sire for $13,000 to the Derella Downs stud, Cascade.
This year Barloo will offer 200 Merino and Poll Merino rams in its on-property ram sale on Wednesday, September 21.
Richard said this year's sale rams were looking great, with both the Merino and Poll Merino sires showing good carcase and wool traits.
Along with a big offering in the sale the stud will also have plenty of rams for private selection after the sale by appointment.
The sale starts at 1.30pm with inspections from 10am.
The House family welcomes everyone to come and have a look.
For more details contact Richard and Cindy House on 9827 1565 or 0428 271 565.
