BINDI Murray is the sort of go-getter the WA sheep industry is lucky to have and when you’re talking sheep with Bindi, it’s easy to appreciate the straightforward logic behind her family’s Woodanilling operation.
Basically, running quality sheep effectively with less inputs is the main idea.
“We’ve always run sheep on the property and we always will run sheep on the property,” Bindi said.
“We want productive, easy care sheep – that’s our principal breeding objective and we’re always trying to improve and move forward.
“We have moved towards increasing our cropping area to about 60 per cent of the enterprise and the remaining 40pc for the sheep and we’re pretty stable now.”
These days the operation usually mates 8500 ewes each year.
“We have a Merino base and self-replacing flock, but we do mate about 25pc to terminal sires for prime lamb production as well,” Bindi said.
“We have specific production traits which we’re always looking to hold and improve and then we’re also building resilience, resistance and welfare traits into our flock.”
That build in resistance traits is attributed to carefully selecting external stud rams for good worm egg count, dag and wrinkle data, as well as some challenge-based selection for fly strike and dags within the ewe flock.
Carcase traits are also a big focus, with weaning weight an important one for Bindi.
“The way I see it, the bigger we can get our weaners at weaning, the better position they’re in for the long hard summer ahead, so things like that I think are worth focusing on,” Bindi said.
“So the dual purpose aspect of the Merino breed does get thrown around a bit and it means different things to different people, but I really do think you can see solid returns out of the meat and wool sides of the business if you work on it.
“It is very important to us that we’re producing an easy to finish, saleable sheepmeat product, as well as a quality wool cut.”
Speaking of that wool cut, Bindi said the flock averages about 19.5 micron which is where they want to be, with a focus on wool cut per hectare rather than looking at average fleece weight per head.
“I think if we focus just on cut per head, we’ll end up breeding a sheep that we can’t run as many per hectare,” she said.
“So most of our production decisions are looked at as a function of our per hectare production rather than per head, and that means each year is different as it all depends on how the season is going to turn out.
“We look at our stocking rates as a forward planning tool and also in hindsight to evaluate our decisions for the next year depending on how things have worked and what we want to try.”
And on top of playing a major role in her family’s mixed enterprise, Bindi, who is also a Sheep Alliance director, has taken on the role of chairing the LambEx 2018 organising committee with the national event set to take place in WA next August.
Bindi said she was excited to have the opportunity to be celebrating the WA sheep industry on a national scale.
“Someone said to me recently that sheep farmers have a proven resilience here in WA and I think it’ll be nice to celebrate the hard work and success of the industry here,” she said.
“Also, because LambEx is coming to WA, it’s a chance for us to showcase the best of the WA sheep and lamb industries and draw in, as well as develop, industry linkages across Australia.
“And I guess that’s one of the things I am really interested in.
“Even though I’m a producer, and a very proud one, what I really want to see at LambEx is the whole of industry coming together to discuss issues together. It’s a great opportunity for that level of interaction and linkage between producer, processor, researcher, exporter and so on.
“Through events like this, we can look as a whole industry towards driving efficiencies across the board.
“From a producer’s perspective, you have a handle on efficiencies within your own system but there are things that crossover which may be a small change in your own operation with a big benefit somewhere else down the supply chain, things like animal health practices and vaccinations – that’s the stuff I’m interested in.
“Anything we can use to bring efficiency to the whole chain I think is really important.”
But when it comes to developing the program for LambEx 2018, Bindi is eager to stress she’s keen for everyone to get involved and to share what they want to hear about at the conference.
“It’s not my LambEx, it’s everyone’s LambEx so I really want to get as many ideas as possible from everyone throughout the supply chain,” she said.
“Particularly I want young people to be getting in touch and telling us what they want to know and what they want to talk about, so we’re collaborating with the universities and grower groups to make that happen, but again we invite anyone interested in getting involved or anyone with an idea to get in touch.
“We had our first meeting in June to start putting ideas on the table and we’re going to have another open meeting on Wednesday, July 19, so everyone is welcome to attend that.
“Basically if you’ve got an interest in the sheep industry, you should be thinking about getting involved in LambEx.
“I’m just looking forward to delivering benefits throughout the supply chain for the producer right to the opposite end of the scale.”
