THERE aren't many downsides to Prime SAMMs when it comes to choosing an easy care, dual purpose breed of sheep to fill the gaps in a cropping enterprise for Tambellup producers Murray, Adrianne and Nicholas Bowman.
Prime SAMMs have been the only type of sheep on the property since Murray and his family opted to go out of Merinos about 15 years ago, chasing the ease of management factor.
"We had Merinos years ago but when we looked at purchasing more land, wool prices were rock bottom and the only thing that was going to make a living was the cropping business," Murray said.
"So since then cropping has been the main focus of our enterprise.
"But we needed to fill in a few little gaps wherever we had a few weed problems and so on, so the SAMMs were a good way of attaining income off that land which wasn't in crop until we got the issues corrected again."
After they arrived on the property, it wasn't long before it became clear the Prime SAMM breed started ticking a few boxes on the production front.
"They are quick maturing, they have multiple births and they're good mothers and all the things that Merinos aren't," Murray said.
"They're a really tough animal too - it doesn't matter if you lamb in autumn or spring, there is going to be one hard period to get them through but the SAMMs manage that tough period really well and once they're past that late-spring, early-summer time, we don't have to worry about them which is a really big advantage for us."
The number of breeding ewes in the operation usually sits around 800 which constitutes about 20 per cent of the overall business, but Murray said there was potential to retain a few more of the older ewes to make the most of current high wool and sheep prices.
"But the trouble is, if you want to do the cropping, well that's a full-time, year round job, so whatever portion of the business is sheep needs to be flexible to fit in around the cropping program," he said.
"We don't want to compromise one operation by focusing too much on the other so we want them to fit together as best they can."
Cropping takes the majority of the focus within the broader business but sheep and wool prices are such that the effort required to keep the sheep flock moving forward is certainly worth it.
"The wool and meat sides of the sheep business definitely justify the effort," Murray said.
"The meat side of the SAMMs in particular is really where we've made the money out of our sheep.
"They've been terrific - for example last year, the whole lot of lambs went in one draft to the saleyards and didn't go into the feedlot.
"We averaged $133 per head without even needing to get them near a feeder so we were excited by that."
After harvest each year there are 4000 acres of stubbles for the lambs to run around on which no doubt has a positive impact on the growth of the yearly drop but Murray said he was impressed generally by the ability of the Prime SAMM breed to grow out quickly with little fuss.
"We don't have to worry about them too much," he said.
"We just put them out on the stubbles and they take care of the rest - they just grow."
Growing ability is what Murray looks for when he heads down to the annual ram sale at Glenelg Prime SAMM stud, Amelup.
"Graham (Moir) has everything documented and measured which helps but I look for the quick growers to start with," he said.
"The ones that attain their weight and size quicker in that first six months which hopefully translates to the lambs that we're producing.
"I use both the figures and visual appraisal when selecting rams and so far, their performance has been very good for our business.
"We've averaged more than 100pc lambing over the past three years and there are always plenty of fast growing maiden ewes to choose replacements from each year."
Rams go in with the ewes in January and the lambs start hitting the ground over six weeks in June.
In terms of marketing, Murray said they tried to 'zig' when everyone else was 'zagging' and sell the annual draft of lambs off peak season.
"Normally the lambs are in the yards by about July but this year they'll be ready to go earlier," Murray said.
"We have sold direct to processors before but usually our lambs go to the saleyards at Katanning and they do very well for us there."
The dual-purpose breed also produces a wool clip come shearing in autumn, with the grown sheep averaging five kilograms of wool per head depending upon seasonal conditions.
Murray is pretty happy with those numbers too.
"It varies from about 5kg to 6.5kg per head, depending on the season but that 5kg average for 21-22 micron wool over the last few years is pretty good," he said.
"The wool sells quite well so there's nothing really to complain about there - we've certainly found it's a great stop-gap while we're waiting for those paddocks to get back up to cropping production.
"I guess the bottom line for our sheep business is minimal management for maximum return and that's what the SAMMs have allowed us to do."
It means the Bowman family is likely to stick with Prime SAMMs into the future.
"The way our business is structured at the present time, the SAMMs are a really good fit with minimal management alongside the cropping," Murray said.
"You can't take your eyes off one operation so we like that the SAMMs can take care of themselves pretty well.
"If you've got the time and the manpower to put a lot of effort into a Merino business there is probably a case for going that way, but really for us, the minimal effort required to run the SAMMs makes them the perfect fit for a business like ours."
