MANYPEAKS producer Alan Lubcke is moving closer to his goal of producing 2000 lambs a year, from 1500 crossbred flock ewes.
It was a goal set when he moved from Merinos to prime lamb production about six years ago.
As WAMMCO's Producer of the Month for November 2012, he has reached a crossbred lamb turn-off of 1500 lambs for the year from matings that now include about 300 ewe lambs.
"We began mating our ewe lambs four years ago and they are averaging only about 70 per cent lambs, as the component of a ewe flock that is averaging 110pc lambs overall," Mr Lubcke said last week.
"The lower lambing percentage in the ewe lambs is not related to nutrition but is more likely to result from immaturity.
"It is one of the problems we hope to address when we start pregnancy scanning in 2013."
Mr Lubcke said the 204 lambs in the winning consignment processed at WAMMCO Katanning on November 27, were the tops from a mob of 600 lambs.
The lambs had an average weight of 23.48kg and were valued on the day at $3.41 a kg to return an average of $80.15 a head.
Fifty five lambs in the draft qualified as WAMMCO Select, now discontinued, but which would previously have earned a bonus of $4 a head or $1.08 a head over the entire consignment.
Mr Lubcke shore the lambs before delivery because he said the wool was worth more in the bale to him than the $4 a skin on offer.
He said lamb values this year were disappointing, but like most producers, he was hoping for some recovery in global demand and price for lamb in 2013.
"Last year we sold no lambs under $120 a head, but this year we are tearing out our hair trying to place lambs at not much more than half that amount," he said.
Mr Lubcke and wife Kathy have been farming in the South Coast region for the last 30 years.
Daughters Samantha (20), who is halfway through completing a Murdoch degree in Animal Science and Nicole (19), who also attends university, offer regular help on the 395 hectare Sunnyside property at Manypeaks.
Mr Lubcke said Prime SAMM genetics acquired at clearing sales when he began crossbreeding about six years ago, formed the original base of his maternal flock but he has since included Texel, Poll Dorset and White Suffolk genes to the mix.
"I breed most of my own rams but I will buy in a stud ram if I believe that it has something to contribute," he said.
This applied to the purchase of an Ile de France ram this year.
"My aim is to produce a 65kg ewe with the ability to raise twins, because I have found that a slightly lighter ewe is a much more efficient breeding unit than a heavier one," he said.
Sunnyside is entirely pasture-based on clover and perennial ryes with some kikuyu.
"The new Italian perennial rye varieties such as Winterstar are very impressive," Mr Lubcke said.
"We have just finished cutting 350 rolls of silage and 100 big hay rolls off 24ha, and the re-growth is still green and growing fast."
He said the processing feedback he received from WAMMCO was of significant value to him in determining breeding strategy.
"I am a shareholder and supplier to WAMMCO, but I also supply stock to other abattoirs that are closer and also provide the essential competition producers must have," he said.
