ALEX and Judy Cant, along with son Cameron and daughter-in-law Tracey, run 8000 Merino wethers at Kojonup.
As some of the very few remaining sheep producers in the area who run a wether-only flock, it comes as no surprise that Mr Cant is a true wool man who strongly believes in the merits of Merino fleece and the importance of its continued production long into the future.
About 95 per cent of the Cant family's 1620 hectare farm is dedicated to running wethers which are purchased as lambs, shorn for four or five years and then generally sold on as 4.5 year-olds.
The farm has a long history of grazing and shearing wethers.
The property was a war service land settlement taken up by another Kojonup family who ran wethers at the end of World War II in 1945.
It was purchased by Mr Cant's father in 1960.
In the 1960s a lot of farming land was being developed at Esperance which made ewes expensive to buy - no matter what their age.
But young wethers could be bought for a third of the price and shorn for four years or more so the Cant family began to source their wethers out of the Wheatbelt.
Despite the pitfalls, downturns and price lows, Mr Cant has always run wethers.
He briefly dabbled with a typical prime lamb breeding flock of about 3000 Pooginook/Lewisdale blood Merino ewes which ran alongside 3500 Merino wethers and 2700 lambs but dispersed it several years ago.
His passion for and experience with wethers drew him back, alongside problems with processors and the realisation he could make just as much money running a wether flock.
The driving factor which caused the Cant family to re-visit its 100pc wether operation was profitability.
In the final wash up wethers have certainly proven themselves against ewes.
Mr Cant said when comparing the overall input costs and overall profits of wether production versus a standard breeding flock over a three or four-year period, there was absolutely nothing in it.
"When we ran ewes we made more money, but we also invested more money and did a lot more work," he said.
"We could buy a wether lamb for $60-$70 and sell it for $100 - a $30-$40 profit which equates to half the value of a crossbred lamb born on the farm.
"By shearing wethers rather than ewes there was also a two kilogram per head difference in the wool clip, so there's another $20 a head profit.
"I'm being generous by saying we would sell a ewe for $80-$90 whereas a wether would make $100-$120 - equal to another half a lamb born on-farm.
"For the amount of work we were putting into ewes there really was nothing in it."
Mr Cant buys 2000 replacement lambs every October and November and looks for lines with lots of wool condition for the Kojonup environment.
He also looks to buy the same lines each year in order to maintain some consistency come shearing in August.
There are only two lines of wethers on the farm at the moment which are from the Hyde family at Ongerup and Squiers family at Quairading.
Despite facing some fairly stiff competition in the saleyards from corporate buyers like Livestock Shipping Services (LSS) and Emanuel Exports, Mr Cant always manages to fill his quotas.
"In the old days when sheep numbers were higher we always used to buy 1.5yo wethers to shear at least five or six times, but the rules have changed and you can't ship a sheep that's older than 4.5yo these days," he said.
"Now we have to buy wether lambs to get the most from them, also, all the older ones have basically been shipped already.
"But despite the competition from exporters we are usually looking to buy different types of sheep."
Mr Cant said he has found exporters are keen to get their hands on 16-18kg killable lambs worth about $100.
If a line of Merino wethers are just off a killable weight - which may only mean a difference of 4-5kg live weight - there is a $20-$25 price difference and Mr Cant is happy to snap them up because it takes next to no time on solid paddock feed to bring them up to scratch.
He is also unphased by a little wrinkle as his woolgrower philosophy of needing more skin to cut more fleece rules.
Mr Cant stands by the fibre because he views it as one of the very few commodities that has increased in value when the Australian Dollar has fallen.
"It has been a big help to those of us who haven't given up on sheep to go cropping," he said.
"It was probably a bit of a gamble to go back to wethers after running ewes really.
"Nobody could foresee wool prices getting back to where they are today, and there's no reason why they can't stay there because national flock numbers are never going to get back to where they were 40 years ago."
During the family's winter shearing Mr Cant aims to cut 50,000kg of wool each season.
He said once upon a time 7000 sheep carrying a 21-24 micron fleece would do that, but now 8000 sheep contribute to the final bale tally because of a slightly younger flock with a finer 18-20 micron fleece.
"Generally that's how Merinos are bred these days, whether you agree with it or not," Mr Cant said.
"After their final shearing ours are mostly sold as shippers and exported to the Gulf countries via Emanuels."
He said running wethers was pretty simple and once he has his numbers up, the key is simply replacing them each year.
"The wool industry is in for a relatively good time because sheep numbers won't get back to where they were and processes are killing and exporters are shipping as many sheep as WA producers can breed," Mr Cant said.
