FOURTH generation Dandaragan farmer Andrew Roberts believes diversity is the key to success.
Having farmed at Kayanaba since 1869, the Roberts family now has a mix of cattle, sheep and cropping.
"Originally the farm ran only shorthorn cattle," Mr Roberts said.
"My great grandad said it was easier running cattle because they were more suited to the land.
"While I agree, with my great grandad, the wool boom that occurred in Australia was too attractive to ignore and meant the family decided to get involved and diversify the farming business."
Like many others, Mr Roberts said his father probably thought sheep were easier to run than his great grandad and was enticed by the dual purpose of meat and the wool that sheep offered.
In the past ,the family has run a Border Leicester-Merino first-cross ewe, which along with a flock of Merinos, was the staple for a lot of the sheep industry.
These days the family is not breeding any of its own replacement Merinos and instead runs about 6000 composite ewes.
The ewes are a mix of East Friesian and Finn Merinos mated to Poll Dorset rams which Mr Roberts hopes will equate to a further 7000 lambs this year.
Growing this type of sheep gives the ability to not only cut wool but also sell to the live sheep export market.
The wool cut from the sheep is about 24 microns which still sells well in a Merino market as a broad type wool.
"It's been good because the broader types of wool have held their own lately and are only selling for slightly less than the Merino," he said.
Mr Roberts said one thing that he found quite concerning regarding his sheep enterprise was how cheap and reasonably easy it was to buy in replacement ewes.
"It means people are still getting out of the sheep game," he said.
"I just can't work it out.
"It's cheaper to buy them in, even with prices where they are and supposedly with no sheep around.
"Someone always wants to sell ewes."
The cattle side of the business at Kayanaba is basically all straight Angus but things have changed with the property over time.
Originally the Roberts produced shorthorn cattle and then moved to Poll Herefords.
Mr Roberts said the family then started with Angus in the mid to late 70s and used Murray Grey bulls for a few years.
"Now there is no colour through our cattle and we are now only breeding from straight Black Angus," he said.
Running both sheep and cattle, Mr Roberts admits he has a soft spot for cattle over the sheep side of the business, as they are easier to work with.
"The cattle have some personality," he said.
"They're much more inquisitive, sure they might give you a bump every now and again but that's half the fun of it.
"It keeps you on your toes."
Mr Roberts said the other problem with sheep was working with large numbers.
He said the work involved in pregnancy scanning 1000 ewes was quite noticeable while a cattle equivalent of 100 cows was a breeze.
"The cattle are much less labour intensive," he said.
"Running 800 breeders can be done with one person but running 8000 ewes is too much.
"Plus cows don't have any of those sheep problems like getting fly blown."
In an ideal world Mr Roberts said he would get rid of the sheep and just keep the cattle but he couldn't because the sheep were too effective at controlling weeds.
"The sheep are essential to the cropping aspect of the business," he said.
Mr Roberts runs a cropping regime that complements the cattle and sheep side of the business, planting about 500 hectares of oats this year along with barley and wheat.
While it's fairly steady going at the moment, Mr Roberts said he had traditionally grown lots of oats.
"This year we have put some wheat in, although I'm not too sure why with prices as low as they are," he said.
Mr Roberts felt the biggest concern for his business at the moment and for the agricultural industry was the right to farm and the threat the green movement posed.
"We haven't had a huge problem with them yet, but we're not mulesing anything, we're not even tail stripping," he said.
"That certainly causes more management issues."
Mr Roberts said the other concern he had surrounded the live export trade.
"The way things have gone it's been tough for some producers and if there are any more problems with the export industry it could affect the whole sheep industry," he said.
