IT has been six years since a sheep was shorn at Alan and Bec Hoggart's Condingup farm.
Early maturity and convenience pushed the couple to switch their Merino operation entirely to the self-shedding UltraWhite and Kojak breeds.
And today - with big returns for the sheep - they are reaping the rewards.
"We persisted with sheep at a time when everyone else was getting out of them," Mr Hoggart said.
"A decade ago, our farm was basically bouncing along the bottom and making just enough money for us to put food on the table.
"But prices over the past five years, mean we can repair and put in fences and sheep yards and buy new machinery."
The Hoggarts run 100 per cent sheep, mainly UltraWhites, across 2500 hectares at The Duke Farm, 400 metres from Esperance's coastline, in a 630 millimetre rainfall zone.
Mr Hoggart is a second-generation farmer and his parents moved to WA's South Coast via England in 1979.
"Dad grew up in Zambia and always wanted to farm," he said.
"Meanwhile, mum was from a farming background in the United Kingdom.
"But the conditions were too wet and cold there (in England) and dad wanted to purchase land somewhere warmer.
"Mum said 'not Africa', so we ended up here."
Ms Hoggart was brought up on a dairy farm in Rosa Brook in the south west.
Mr Hoggart's parents cleared half of the land and started farming Merino sheep with a small amount of shared cropping.
"Dad reckons one of four crops worked - the other three were too wet," Mr Hoggart said.
"There have been some changes in rainfall conditions and the shoulder of the seasons including April, May and October are drier than they used to be.
"But a high rainfall year like this would have been an absolute disaster for cropping,'' Mr Hoggart said.
"So, on a whole focusing entirely on sheep works for us."
About 12 years ago, the Hoggarts decided to start slowly changing their flock by introducing self-shedding sheep.
Their shearing shed was falling down and shearing was getting more expensive, so the decision made sense on many fronts.
The couple could have shifted their focus entirely to wool by upgrading the shearing shed, but found they weren't too passionate about it.
At the time also, sheep weren't as profitable on a small scale and there was an opportunity to purchase neighbouring bluegum plantations to expand their business.
Blue gums were either harvested or bulldozed on the property to make way for pasture.
While clearing the land, the Hoggarts continued to build up sheep numbers until they reached a point where they could refine their flock.
"We went from Merinos to Dorpers and then Wiltshires - crossing the two to get the best out of both," Mr Hoggart said.
"When we refined our flock we got rid of all the bad bits in the wool, colour, feet, fertility and the horns."
Kojak rams were sourced from the Heggaton family's BreedersBEST Genetics and UltraWhite rams from the Bradford family's Hillcroft Farms stud.
The genetics appealed to the Hoggarts because they were "good shedding sires".
Last summer, the Hoggarts ran 6500 ewes plus lambs and rams.
"It can get pretty hectic when you are weaning, selling and loading sheep when you have a couple of kids running around,'' Mr Hoggart said.
"On top of that the blue gum farms have taken up a lot of time in clearing, levelling out paddocks and fencing, particularly as there is only the two of us.
"It has tied in well with our operation, but if we had shearing, mulesing and crutching on top of that then we would have to employ someone."
One of the benefits of switching to self-shedding sheep has been the early maturing lambs.
The Hoggarts mate their lambs between seven and nine-months-old, whereas they found that Merino sheep had to be run through until they were 18 months.
"We have to have good sheep and more of them," Ms Hoggart said.
"So we are breeding twins to cover the income that we would've received from wool."
This season, the Hoggarts had 640 one-year-old ewe lambs, which lambed in August.
A portion of their wether lambs are contracted through Livestock Shipping Services (LSS) and are processed as an air freight lamb in Narrogin.
As the Hoggarts don't produce their own grain, crops or stubble for sheep to feed on over summer, they aim for a 16-18 kilogram carcase weight.
"Initially we aimed for our sheep to reach an 18 plus carcase weight each year," Mr Hoggart said.
"We would buy tonnes and tonnes of grain for feed through summer and to try and get the animals to weight.
"The amount of time and money we spent feeding sheep and drenching lambs was counter productive.
"If we had sold them as a store lamb at the start, we would have been just as well off."
Compared to other sheep farmers, the Hoggarts prefer a late lamb at the end of June to July, ahead of the spring flush.
With no crops, the later lambing guarantees there is substantial feed on the ground.
Once the feed tapered off in November-December, lambs would be sent off and more ewes (would) can be carried through summer.
That means the Hoggarts are back to their main ewe breeding flock when the feed drops back.
How heavy the sheep are depends on the conditions of the season.
Contracts with LSS means the Hoggarts can offload their flock and choose from what is leftover.
Season dependent, they can hold on to remaining animals for an extra one to six months to put on extra weight.
One of the biggest changes Mr Hoggart has noticed in the industry is the increased demand for shedding sheep breeds, particularly in recent years.
In 2016, the Hoggarts were approached by a local stock agent to send Dorper-origin, shedding ewe lambs to Russia.
While it seemed an offer "too good to be true" they decided to accept and it proved worthwhile.
For three consecutive years, the Hoggarts sent about 1000 ewe lambs from their flock to Russia for breeding.
Last year the demand from Russia had weakened, however drought breaking rains in the Eastern States filled the market gap and was even stronger.
"We sent 1500 ewe lambs east for the same price as we were sending them to Russia," Mr Hoggart said.
"That has been really rewarding for us and the market for that type of sheep - any sheep in general - has remained strong."
As well as demand, the price for sheep has also been among the biggest changes seen in industry.
When the Hoggarts arrived in Esperance in the early 2000s, they were excited to "get 60 bucks" for a lamb.
However, when they went holidaying in England in 2007 they were surprised to see a significant difference in the market.
"We usually put a budget in for about $40 per lamb," Mr Hoggart said.
"Then we went to England and saw what prices they were getting over there, which was $5.50/kg equivalent compared to our $2.50/kg.
"I was thinking 'what the hell are we doing wrong?
"Surely, it has to come our way?"
Seeing that and believing the Australian market would take a turn was one of the reasons the Hoggarts held onto their livestock.
And it proved a wise decision with the similar Australian Whites selling on AuctionsPlus for upwards of $900 in recent months.
"When you see prices of that order you wonder if you could get that for yours," Mr Hoggart said.
Ms Hoggart added: "We are still under-budgeting because it seems like it has to stop at some point."
"But they are staying at that high price, so I think we have to kind of kick ourselves, enjoy it and use the funds to replenish the farm infrastructure,'' she said.
About a quarter of the Hoggarts' home farm is on deep, white sand.
In the past, capeweed would thrive in the sandier soil type, which in turn would be detrimental to the sheep.
About two decades ago, the couple decided to plant kikuyu perennial pastures to stabilise deeper sands, build up the soil and manage the capeweed.
Today, half of their home farm is made up of kikuyu, while the two newer farms are slightly less.
A third of the Hoggarts' recorded annual rainfall is out of season and in summer.
This has helped boost kikuyu growth.
Subclover and yellow seradella are used as the legume in the system,
Mr Hoggart said one of the challenges was the hit-and-miss nature of clovers, particularly with subterranean clover red leaf syndrome, red legged earth mites and false breaks.
He said while they always maintained a decent amount of clover onfarm, it was good to have a mix of legumes to avoid complete wipe out in paddocks.
"Most of the time the hard seeded nature in the clover and seredalla, along with our wet winters, mean we experience a staggered germination of clovers,'' Mr Hoggart said.
"The seradella tends to be a bit later anyway, but we always have some legume content."
If there was poor legume content in a paddock one year the Hoggarts top it up with a bit of nitrogen fertiliser and kick it away.
Another benefit of the kikuyu has been improving the organic matter of the soil which is full of earthworms and grows field mushrooms every winter.
The soil was white sand before the pasture was sown and Mr Hoggart has seen - even in the new block - big, white blow outs on the sand rises.
"It is incredible to see how much the kikuyu is improving the organic content of the soil, turning it into something," he said.
Without using trace elements and phosphate in Esperance's sandplain, Mr Hoggart said that farming would not be productive in the area.
He said the ground was "inherently deficient'' in many minerals sheep and pasture needed.
"We do get the minerals to the sheep through a loose lick and supplements in drenches,'' he said.
"But also - and I may be getting a bit over the top here - when we are building up the soil and organic matter, all of that matter is going to suck up a lot of those trace elements.
"Obviously once the soil has been built up more of those trace elements would be more available to sheep through grazing.
"Kikuyu isn't great quality feed - it would probably be like eating bread all day for the sheep."
Ms Hoggart added that kikuyu was good for ewe maintenance in summer when annual pastures and legumes had died.
She said even if it wasn't growing it was still holding everything together, so they could run and feed sheep hay on it and they wouldn't blow the soil.
"The kikuyu can be eaten down to almost nothing and it will still grow and hold the soil together,'' Ms Hoggart said.
"It doesn't matter if the sheep are on it for a longer period of time, the annual stuff can be allowed to recover and then taken off when it does eventually rain.
"The roots form a real dense mat and hold the ground, as opposed to dying off and blowing away.
"It is an amazing grass because of the fact it just hangs around.
"Al has sprayed it out to plant other stuff, which knocks it a bit and then it will shoot back up again."
