THE Crombie family has always been passionate about its sheep, but improving pastures in recent years has really allowed its Merino and Suffolk flock to flourish.
Like majority of Wheatbelt farmers, Rohan and Sharon Crombie run a mixed enterprise on their 3650 hectare owned and leased Babakin farm, 35 kilometres north of Corrigin, with 60 per cent cropping and 40pc livestock.
As a result of this mixed enterprise, every business decision is made, in conjunction with Rohan’s parents Will and Lorraine Crombie, to benefit the system as a whole, with every element key to its success.
While they were happy with the way their 2200ha cropping program and 2400 Merino ewe flock were performing, Rohan said in recent years they began to focus on improving their pastures, the flow-on effect being more sheep feed, easier lambing and both the sheep and soil profile being in better condition.
He credits the local farmer-driven group Corrigin Pasture Group as being the catalyst for his emphasis on bettering his pastures, a group established around eight years ago by Lex Stone and a group of 20 like-minded and determined Corrigin farmers.
Working on the theory that 20 farming brains are better than one, the local group independently conduct its own large-scale pasture trials and weed management, then meets regularly to share and discuss what is working within scope of the Corrigin climate and rainfall area.
As a result, Rohan believes they have been able to maximise their margins for their sheep without increasing their stocking rate.
“We are growing better quality pastures and have more feed available for a longer period of the year,” Rohan said.
“I think the group has been so important for sharing information with each other, it fast tracks everything.
“This way we find out faster what is working or not working with new pasture varieties and chemical applications, all with the aim of improving them for more sheep feed and tighter cropping rotations.
“In terms of our sheep, our stocking rate hasn’t changed much in recent years, if anything we are probably slightly understocked.
“But we are getting good lambing rates, a good quality wool cut and the ewes are in better condition before joining and that’s largely due to improving our pastures.”
It’s a long-term project, with 1450ha of pastures all at different stages of development and sowing 200ha every year, but Rohan said the increase in winter and spring growth had allowed them to turn their lambs off quicker and boost the condition of the ewes in preparation for joining.
Around 600 of the Crombie’s Merino ewes are joined to Suffolk rams toward the end of November, while the remaining 1800 are joined to Merino rams at the beginning of December.
Their Merino flock is based on Claypans bloodlines, while the Suffolk element is the result of their own stud breeding program from the family’s Windsor Suffolk stud.
Rohan established the stud in 1994 when he returned from school to the family farm, and he currently runs 110 stud ewes and 40 hoggets.
Joining is a seven-week event and any dry ewes are joined to Suffolk rams the following year – the only mob to be pregnancy tested in March and if they come up empty a second time, they are sold.
Lambs drop through May and June and usually the Suffolk-Merino lambs are the first to reach their goal weight of between 18-24kg by late September or early October, and are sold over the hook to either WAMMCO or Fletchers International.
“We think the Suffolk element gives us that early cash flow, so we can get them up and off the property as quickly as possible,” Rohan said.
“After that we are able to concentrate on our Merinos and the wool aspect of our business.
“The benefits of running sheep for both meat and wool have always worked well for us.”
Such is the Crombie’s dedication and faith in the wool industry, they built a new shearing shed in 2011, so when their main shearing rolls around in the stifling hot month of February, they can clip in comfort.
The main flock averages 21 micron and the hoggets 19 micron, and once shearing is completed the entire wool clip is sold through Dyson Jones, a company the Crombie family have supported from the very beginning.
Rohan said they don’t tend to chase markets or trends, preferring to continue to tweak their system ever so slightly to maintain the right balance for them.
