THE ability of Merino sheep to provide a consistent income throughout the year from both wool and meat is what has kept the Saunders family at Narrogin running the breed for the past century.
The family farm covers 2000 hectares over four blocks and is run by Murray, wife Rosalind and their children Lawson and Verne, with the support of Murray's parents, Gerald and Mary.
They started in the sheep and wool industry in the early 1900s when Herbert Saunders purchased the family's original farm.
Then Murray's grandfather, Alan and wife Joan, branched out on their own to buy the farms they are on today.
The original family farm was 800ha and over the years the family has expanded from there, purchasing another 800ha block in the 1960s which needed to be cleared, while the latest parcel of land was purchased in 2012.
While Merinos have always been a big part of the family's farming enterprise, Mr Saunders' involvement in the operation started in earnest in 2012 when he returned home to the farm full-time.
Prior to that he worked as a mining surveyor in the Pilbara and Kimberley regions as well as north Queensland from 2004 to 2012.
Mr Saunders said his intention was to return home full-time in 2010 with the aim to start farming as he always had a passion for the industry.
"But it didn't quite happen as I planned, we had an exceptionally poor year in 2010 so I went back to the mining industry for another couple of years and during this time I met Rosalind who was a mining engineer," Mr Saunders said.
"I had always had a passion for the farm and the sheep and wool industry, so I knew this is where I would end up."
Having been back on the farm now for a number of years Mr Saunders said he enjoys the challenges of breeding Merinos.
"Our number one objective is to make a profit from our sheep through both wool and meat," Mr Saunders said.
"We have always run Merinos on the property and I like that they are dual-purpose and provide consistent income throughout the year.
"We get an income from our hogget wool in September, the adult wool March/September, lamb sales as they finish from October to January, breeding ewe hoggets sales from February to June, dry mutton sales in March, mutton sales in August and September and wether sales in July.
"They really can provide a good spread of income throughout the year plus they are not susceptible to weather issues, if feed is tight you can just run the feeder more."
With a passion for running Merinos, the family has gradually increased its flock size over the years, from 2500 head in 2004 to 3000 in 2018.
Today they are running 3400 Merino breeding ewes plus 800 ewe hoggets, 500 wether hoggets, 450 two-tooth wethers and 450 four-tooth wethers.
The main focus for Mr Saunders when it comes to his Merinos is their wool but he is still mindful that they need to be breeding a large framed sheep due to the returns you can get from the meat as well.
The family's aim is for their hoggets to average about the 18 micron mark and their adult sheep 19.5 microns.
With this in mind when looking for new genetics and selecting new sires, Mr Saunders pays close attention to their wool quality and quantity plus their conformation.
The family's Merino flock is based nearly purely on East Strathglen genetics with the family having sourced their rams from the Tambellup-based stud for the past 29 years.
"I have bought some exceptional rams from East Strathglen in the past couple of years and their genetics are certainly flowing through into our sheep and the improvement in the flock is really evident," Mr Saunders said.
"We used to buy horned Merino rams but we made the switch to Polls three years ago for ease of handling, and industry expectations.
"Along with using East Strathglen genetics we have also introduced a Seymour Park sire this year, so it will be interesting to see what he does."
Each year the Saunders purchase one or two very high quality rams and use them in a nucleus flock to breed their own rams.
"We have 450 ewes in the nucleus flock which includes 20pc maidens," Mr Saunders said.
"Of these 200-300 are used in an AI program while the rest are naturally joined.
"Dad's decision to go down the path of breeding our own rams 30 years ago was a commercial decision and is one I am happy to continue.
"We use the rams at 3pc in the ewes which means we need between 25-30 new rams a year, so if I spend $25,000 on our nucleus breeding program it is cheaper than buying that number of rams each year, with a genetic increase in ewes.
"Plus I really like the challenge of the breeding side and seeing our flock improve.
"We have really seen an improvement in our ewes and I like benchmarking them against others in things like the Darkan ewe competition."
Along with buying the best rams to improve their flock, the Saunders use outside classers to help class their ewe flock each year.
Brian Faithfull classed the flock from the mid 1980s until 2014 when he retired and since then they have used Nathan King.
Mr Saunders said Mr King helped class both their nucleus and main breeding flock each year in July.
When selecting replacement ewes Mr Saunders said they looked for ewes with a good frame and good wool and generally they retained about 60pc of their ewe hoggets each year.
"Having Nathan help class has been beneficial as it has provided an objective eye and the improvement we are now seeing speaks volumes for the job he does," Mr Saunders said.
The breeding program revolves around the rams going in with the ewes at the beginning of December for six weeks, for a lambing which starts at the beginning of May and results in a weaning in August.
The Saunders also pregnancy scan all their ewes in March and Mr Saunders said any ewe not in lamb was sold as mutton to ensure they were keeping their flock fertility up.
Also at pregnancy scanning the ewes are separated into twin bearing and single bearing mobs so their feed requirements can be managed accordingly.
On average over the past 10 years the flock has recorded an 85pc lambing rate for ewes joined but Mr Saunders is hoping to push it up to the mid-nineties.
With Mr Saunders really passionate about the wool side of the operation, he views shearing as one of the best times of the year on the property, getting to see the product that he was growing up close.
For the past five years they have shorn their older mated ewes (six-tooth and over) in March just prior to lambing which Mr Saunders said worked well.
"The rest of the sheep including the two and four-tooth ewes, the ewe hoggets and the wethers are shorn in September," he said.
"We like having the split shearing as March shorn ewes results in a lower mortality rate at lambing and better ewe condition.
The Saunders also shear their rams twice a year to keep them in the best possible condition for joining.
On average their hoggets cut four kilograms of 18 micron wool in the press, while the adult ewes average a 6kg cut of 19 micron wool and the mature wethers 8kg of 20 micron wool.
At these cuts the family normally produces 230 bales or 40 tonnes of wool a year and it is all sold to Scanlan Wools which they have done for many years.
Through Scanlan Wools the Saunders also got involved in its Swoolly jumper project in 2019.
Mr Saunders said they set aside a line of 20 bales of 19.5 micron wool to be processed into jumpers and were involved in a video to market to Chinese consumers.
While he enjoys growing wool, he said at times it could be hard work due to the market volatility.
"We saw some great prices a few years back but it did drop away due to the pandemic last year which was disappointing but it was still profitable," Mr Saunders said.
"It is pleasing to see now it has turned the corner again and the market is on the way back up.
"It really is a market where the trends are hard to follow."
When it came to marketing the wether and ewe lambs, the farm has either sold them as stores if the price is right or put them through the feedlot.
Mr Saunders said ideally they liked to sell them as stores at 35kg liveweight if the price was right but most of the time they go through the feedlot.
"Over the past couple of years we have put 1200 to 1400 lambs through the feedlot and finished them on pellets and salt bush in summer," Mr Saunders said.
"Our aim is to sell them out of the feedlot at about the 20kg dressed mark and we sell them mostly to local abattoirs through stock agent Ashley Lock from Nutrien Livestock.
"We have developed a relationship with V&V Walsh, Bunbury and Karradale Meats, Osborne Park, since before the live export ban a few years ago, but this is only for the older heavy wethers and mutton sold in July and August.
"It's nice not to have the stress about the timing of that sale and worry about boats and bans."
On the meat side Mr Saunders said prices had been brilliant but the rise of input costs meant profits were not as great as they could be.
"It seems as soon as there is an increase in the markets the suppliers want a bit extra so turnover is through the roof but profit remains similar," Mr Saunders said.
To ensure their sheep are always in the best possible condition, the Saunders have a very good supplementary feeding program and a big percentage of what they feed they grow themselves.
The family's cropping program involves 350 to 400ha being planted to barley and oats and at harvest they retain 250t of barley and 250t of oats for sheep feed which they mix at a ratio of 1:1.
Mr Saunders said he started trail feeding before the feed went off so induction rates were low to reduce nutritional change upsets.
When there was zero per cent food on offer (FOO), a rate of 450 grams per DSE head per day of the oats/barley ration was given and the rate is regularly adjusted when FOO changes and for the pregnancy status of the ewes.
Along with being supplementary fed over summer, the operation's pregnant ewes and lambs receive a calcium and sulphur mix.
Mr Saunders said he has conducted a few trials with vaccines and supplements over the past couple of years and has found feeding them more to be the answer for improving his ewes condition.
"I have found that feeding them another $5 a head of barley is beneficial as from there, they'll look after themselves," he said.
Along with their supplementary feeding program the Saunders also planted 4000 Anameka saltbush trees last year for use as a feedlot supplement and vitamin boost and they have plans for another planting program next year.
As for seasonal conditions Mr Saunders said where they farmed was a pretty safe area and the average rainfall for the area was 350 to 450 millimetres.
"Pasture growth has been short for the past few years, but it got away in April this year," Mr Saunders said.
"As a result of the pastures being tight we've been trail feeding for a long time.
"It has been nice to mark some big healthy lambs this year, but the lamb catcher hasn't been too happy about it.
"It just shows what green feed can do in terms of growing lambs."
As for changes going forward, Mr Saunders is keen to make the farm as efficient as possible through changing the ways they operate and technology.
"We are using a drone for crop, dam and fence inspections, doing pasture manipulation and using contractors for some jobs," Mr Saunders said.
"We also invested in a better sheep handler, a bigger sheep feeder, and plan to fence off more laneways, plus invest more time into my dogs with dedicated training times for them, not just when I can get around to it."
Another important part of keeping track of what is happening is the database Mr Saunders made 10 years ago.
"It's my diary and I use it for all the record keeping with everything we do in terms of treatments etc," he said.
"It is an ever-evolving tool that has saved me a lot of work and made the LPA audit a breeze."
Looking to the future Mr Saunders said Merinos would always have a place on the family property while he was there and he hoped his children would follow down the Merino path too.
