MERINOS have been and will continue to be the breed of choice for Jim and Kate Heal at Three Springs.
Mr Heal is the second generation to farm the family's Three Springs property.
His parents Rex and Sue Heal started farming in the Three Springs area in 1976 and since that time Merinos have always had a place on the property.
Even though their sheep enterprise is only a small percentage of the farm operation, the Heals like Merinos and will keep running them because they provide a number of advantages to the operation.
"The cropping side of our business is certainly our main focus and brings in the majority of our income, but we still like to have the sheep in the mix," Mr Heal said.
"They add diversification to our operation and also bring in some extra income.
"In addition to that they complement our cropping program.
"They allow us to get an income off the paddocks that are otherwise unsuitable for cropping.
"For our farm and set up, having the sheep means we can utilise those smaller paddocks that are undulating and have poorer soil types.
"Plus they are very good for cleaning up stubbles and weeds."
Currently, the Heals are running 2500 Merino breeding ewes on 1500 hectares alongside a cropping program which sees them plant 4000ha to wheat, barley, lupins and canola.
In the past, the Heals have run up to 4000 ewes but they have reduced their numbers due to expansion of the cropping program.
Mr Heal said Merinos had always been their breed of choice due to their ability to produce both wool and meat.
"Not only do they have the dual-purpose attribute, they are also easy and simple to look after," Mr Heal said.
"You certainly don't have to worry about them getting out of the paddocks like you do with some other breeds."
The Heals aim to breed sheep with soft, heavy cutting wool that fills the bale with a fast body growth rate and strong frames to suit and handle the environment they live in.
The Willemenup Poll Merino bloodline has been the one of choice for the Heals for more than 15 years and Mr Heal said even though the Garnett family, Gnowangerup, had sold the stud they would continue to buy rams from the stud's new owners the House family, Barloo stud, Gnowangerup.
"The House family is keeping the bloodline going, which is pleasing to see, so at this stage we will keep making trips to Gnowangerup to buy our rams," Mr Heal said.
At last year's Barloo/Willemenup ram sale the Heals purchased the two top-priced Willemenup sires at $5700 and $5200 to use in their nucleus breeding flock to breed rams for their own use.
When it comes to their joining program the Heals have made changes to it in the past couple of years.
Previously they used to join their ewes for a four-week period during January but now the rams go in at the beginning of January and come out at the end of March.
Mr Heal said they changed the program to reduce their workload of drafting rams off over the hottest time of the year in February.
"We now leave the rams in for three months and get them out at shearing time," he said.
"It is just more convenient to get them out at shearing and just keeps it simple.
"I know it has extended our lambing a little but most of the lambs are still dropping in the month of June.
"Last year we had a few late lambs, but it doesn't bother us because if you spend money on rams you may as well get good use out of them and get as many lambs on the ground as possible."
Over the past six years the Heals have achieved an average lambing rate of 104 per cent with their highest lambing rate in that period being 109pc.
"It'll be interesting to see how the lambing percentage goes this year given the good start to the season," Mr Heal said.
When it comes to the flock's wool production figures, they average a cut of five to six kilograms a head across both mature and young sheep with their adult ewes averaging 21 micron and their lambs 18 micron.
This year when the Heals sold their wool in April following their March shearing they averaged $1400 a bale which Mr Heal said was OK given the market had seen a downturn over the past two years from its record levels.
In terms of sheep prices he said the market was strong and they had received some fantastic prices for their sheep.
"We have been averaging more than $130 a head in general over our age groups which has been quite satisfying," he said.
"Hopefully the wool market will continue to pick up and sheep prices will stay at these strong levels as it certainly makes running a sheep flock worthwhile."
In terms of selling their sheep, the Heals usually market their wethers as lambs in April when they reach about 42-45kg liveweight to abattoirs while last year some were sold to the Eastern States due to the high demand for sheep.
When it comes to their ewes they are sold after they are classed and the Heals have selected their replacement breeders.
"We usually class our ewe hoggets in June/July and those that are excess to our requirements are then shorn and sold as soon as possible," he said.
"Usually they are sold to graziers, based either locally or in the Eastern States, looking for ewes as replacements for prime lamb production.
"We have held them over to spring sheep sales in the past but in the past couple of years since we have brought the classing earlier, I have found it better to sell them earlier as it means there is more feed available for the new lambs.
As for cast-for-age ewes, they are sold as mutton once they have their lambs weaned and Mr Heal said they were usually sold to either V&V Walsh or Fletchers International.
This year is looking like a promising season with early rains helping to establish the crops and pastures early - they are on target for one of their best years ever in a season that is similar to 2016.
Rainfall over the past six years has averaged 392mm, which is below the 450mm annual long-term average for the area.
The growing season average is 326mm," Mr Heal said.
"This time of year (June when Farm Weekly visited) we are usually lambing onto green pasture with the lick feeders and hay, but we haven't needed to fill up the lick feeders this year with the abundance of early fodder/pasture growth.
"The 2020 season saw a nice soft finish and we are hoping for a similar finish again this year, fingers crossed.
"The only challenge in 2016 was the frosts in our valleys which affected the crops so hopefully that doesn't happen again."
When it comes to pastures the Heals sow a mix of oats, barley and clover, as well as some perennial varieties which are sown on the sandier soils.
They also do a small amount of crop grazing on some of their barley and wheat paddocks when the crop is at the mid-tillering stage, which Mr Heal said worked well.
Also to help extend the winter feed window, the Heals have started growing SSS Sorghum and planting in late August, which is showing some promise to be a good companion with their perennials.
In addition to this the Heals have also been trialling some lucerne which is sown in with the lupin crops to not only increase the ground cover during summer, but to also provide some extra feed.
When it comes to feeding their stock, the Heals do very little supplementary feeding over summer except for putting out some hay which is also grown on the property.
One thing they do make sure they do is supplementary feed their weaners early.
When they wean their lambs at the end of August/early September they are put on to fresh pastures with lick feeders and hay to ensure they continue to move forward and they stay on them until after harvest.
Once harvest is complete the weaners are run on lupin stubbles, while the ewes are put on wheat and barley stubbles.
Mr Heal said when the sheep were on the lupin stubbles they also had access to a couple of bales of hay.
"Usually we leave them in a stubble for about four weeks before we move them onto a fresh stubble, but that does depend on the mob and paddock size," he said
Sulphur and calcium is added their feed mix, which is put into a silo so it's ready to fill the feeders up when needed.
As for water, there is a natural spring that reticulates into waterholes and dams, meaning they don't have to worry about troughs too much over summer.
"We are quite blessed with water supply which makes running livestock a lot easier," Mr Heal said.
When it comes to future improvements the Heals are looking to re-invest in some of their infrastructure for the sheep including the shearing shed and yards.
They are also ameliorating their sandier non wetting soils, with pasture improvement being a major focus in the coming years.
Due to this, the prospect of increasing their sheep numbers is unlikely at this stage as the soils can be fragile during the amelioration regeneration/restoration process.