MERINOS have always been a part of Dowerin sheep producer Scott Flavel's life, but it is only in the past couple of years he has really seen the true benefits of running a self-replacing Merino flock and breeding Merino lambs.
While he has run a Merino ewe flock for nearly 15 years it has only been in recent times the switch has been made to using Merino rams over the majority of them, despite having a long association with the breed.
Scott grew up on his family's farm at Yuna, north of Mullewa, where they had a Merino stud and being from a farming background meant he always had an interest in the agricultural industry.
In 1985 he was introduced to the Dowerin area which he now calls home.
When Scott was at WA College of Agriculture, Cunderdin, he had a friend who lived in Dowerin that he played footy with and he introduced him to the region.
He went on to run a shearing contract business for eight years in Dowerin and in 2000 began working for local sheep farmer is Darrel & Di Hudson.
Scott worked for the Hudsons for 10 years and it was while working for them that he started farming in his own right, when the Hudsons leased him some land.
He said starting farming on his own came with its challenges, particularly when it came to finding land.
"It can be tough to get land if you're not returning to a family farm," Scott said.
"With land being a restricting factor it also meant I couldn't run a self-replacing flock when I first started."
In a bid to acquire more land in 2007 Scott began share-farming with another local farmer Robert Trepp and then in 2010, with wife Wendy, they purchased their current home property.
When starting the sheep enterprise he used to produce a crossbred lamb using Dorper rams over Merino ewes he bought in, but with land no longer a restricting issue, Scott has changed his flock structure and is running a self-replacing Merino flock.
Also early on, the Flavels bought in store sheep and put them through a feedlot before selling them on - something they still do today.
Scott said looking at store sheep he had the opportunity to buy in a local producer's cull ewe and wether lambs that were usually Ejanding bloodlines and they would do exceptionally well in the feedlot.
"It got me questioning why we were breeding crossbred lambs and not running a self-replacing Merino flock and breeding Merino lambs and putting our own wethers and cull ewes through the feedlot," Scott said.
Before switching to mating the majority of their ewes to Merino rams in the past 15 years, the Flavels joined 2500 Merino ewes all to Dorper rams, having a full-blood Dorper flock of about 400 ewes at one point.
While Merino rams are relatively new to the enterprise, Merino ewes have always been part of the Flavel's set up.
"We have always had Merino ewes and I have never thought about trading them in for something else," Scott said.
"They are good mums.
"They have always given me 100 per cent lambing and a good wool clip."
Scott said the purebred Dorpers were just like running wild animals and you couldn't keep them in.
"They're super smart and if they don't want to be there, they just leave," he said.
With the Dorpers becoming too much work, it was another reason to change the flock structure and use Merino rams.
He said for years Ejanding stud principal Brett Jones, Dowerin, unsuccessfully tried to convince him to buy his Merino rams.
"Every year he would ask me if I was going to buy one of his rams and I'd say can you put a black head on it?" Scott said.
"I also used to tell him that the Merino would end up in the museum.
"But now I'm buying his rams, so it is funny how things have turned out.
"I have done a full flip when it comes to Merinos."
Scott said that one of the main reasons he went back into Merinos was because of how well the progeny of Ejanding stud rams performed in the paddock and in the feedlot.
"Brett has a very good bloodline and produces sheep that are good for both wool and meat," he said.
Across their properties the Flavels are running 1000 Merino ewes, of which 600 are mated to Merinos and 400 mated to white/black Suffolks.
However in the future Scott is hoping to get the number of ewes he mates to Merino rams back up towards the 1500 to 1600 head mark.
In addition to their breeding flock, the Flavels also still buy in and feedlot lambs, most of which are Merinos.
Scott said Merinos took longer on feed to reach maximum selling weight compared to crossbreds, but it was the wool clip produced and sold that made them very profitable.
Joining of the ewes on the property begins on New Year's Day, January 1, running for a 10-week cycle which results with lambing from mid-June.
To ensure his breeding flock remains productive, Scott aims to keep only young sheep and culls off the older ewes when they are about five-years-old.
They also pregnancy scan their ewes each year and anything not in lamb is sold.
"I think if you have too many old sheep that's the problem, particularly if you are breeding crossbreds," Scott said.
Their main shearing is in April, but as a result of them buying in and selling sheep at varying times of the year there can be several rounds of shearing.
The Flavels send the majority of their lambs direct to abattoirs including WAMMCO, Hillside and V&V Walsh.
Scott said most of their sheep that were on pellets in the feedlot went to the abattoirs, although they do sell some into the live export market.
"Really it just depends on what weight they are and what the boats are paying," Scott said.
"This year the boats were paying better money liveweight than the abattoirs."
Scott believes the live export market is essential for all sheep producers.
"For me and for a lot of people it is an important avenue to be able to offload those sheep that just aren't quite going to get up to speed in the feedlot," he said.
"They make very good boat sheep, but they're just not heavy enough to send to an abattoir."
With the Eastern States in a recovery phase after several years of drought, Scott has also seen interest from this market and as a result he has sold a large number of sheep to buyers in the Eastern States via AuctionsPlus.
"The Eastern States' market in recent months certainly has been pretty lucrative," Scott said.
"I think more than one million sheep would have been sent over there since August/September last year however with them all going I just hope there's enough sheep left in WA."
Looking to the future he is striving to be at a point where he is breeding all of his own sheep in the coming years in case there becomes a shortage of ewes in WA.
Scott said he was aiming to breed nice productive lines of ewes, so if it eventuated and farmers couldn't buy Merino ewes in the next five to 10 years for any reason, then he would be well set-up and breeding his own.
While a shortage of breeding ewes in WA is of concern to Scott, his biggest worry is Australia's current trade relationship with China which has fractured in recent times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Our relationship with China is hanging by a thread and this is a real concern for the wool industry as it takes 80pc of our wool," Scott said.
"There only has to be one glitch and I fear they may look elsewhere and even start using more synthetics instead of Australian wool."
As well as a sheep enterprise, the Flavels also have a cropping program of wheat, canola, lupins and barley.
The past season was challenging due to no finishing rains.
Scott said they had feed for the sheep, so they came through in good condition, but the cropping side was very ordinary.
"We got seven millimetres over the Dowerin field days in August and then it didn't rain again," he said.
As for this season, the Flavels have experienced just enough rain for the crops to germinate and pastures have started to get away.
"Once the crops are up you're in the game and you can start making decisions," Scott said.
