TEXELS are incomparable to any other breed, according to Manjimup producer Ian Wauchope.
Though Mr Wauchope's parents were Scottish he was born in Bridgetown and said he always knew he wanted to farm from 10 years of age when his uncles would take him to do farm work.
In the early days, Mr Wauchope had various agricultural ventures including running Southdown sheep at Bridgetown and share-cropping in the Wheatbelt.
In 1969 he started producing cauliflower which he did for 15 years and at one stage was producing 80 per cent of the total cauliflower for Australia in Manjimup.
"Everyone was making money, it was an era that will never be repeated," Mr Wauchope said.
About 1983, Mr Wauchope began growing Chinese cabbage across 150 acres (60.7 hectares), which was exported to international markets including Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan.
"At one stage we were growing 25pc of China's total cabbage order at Manjimup," he said.
It was a profitable business for Mr Wauchope which allowed him to purchase his own farm at Manjimup in 1993.
Sheep weren't always a part of the business plan but in 2012 they decided it was time to get back into sheep.
"I have always favoured sheep," Mr Wauchope said.
Then he had the task of choosing which breed to run and plenty of research went into the process
In the end, Mr Wauchope decided Texels were the breed he wanted to run and he hasn't looked back.
Mr Wauchope wasn't deterred by the fact that Texels weren't a hugely popular breed in WA.
"I'm not someone that does what everybody else does," he said.
He described the Texels as having perfect conformation and they dress out well.
"They are beautiful sheep," he said.
"I'm not sorry I chose to breed Texels."
Having done his due diligence on the breed he found there was a bit of history when it came to the breed.
"They were bred by the Vikings who were very good farmers and ended up on an island just off Holland, called Texel,'' Mr Wauchope said.
"The Scotts eventually discovered them and they built up the Texel flock numbers and being of Scottish descent I thought it was only fitting."
Another factor in the breed's favour was that they were the only sheep breed to have a double copy of the gene, myostatin, which means there is a better balance of lean meat to fat.
"I thought this is an interesting breed and I liked the look of the sheep as well," Mr Wauchope said.
To find out more about the breed he spoke with Jim Glover, who is a local Texel stud breeder.
Mr Wauchope and his wife Jackie now have a total 215 hectares spread across six properties in the Manjimup area on which they run 1000 breeders.
They run crossbreds, breeding from his best Texel lambs and he has Merino ewes which are mated to Texel rams, though it is set to be his last year with Merinos.
By the end of the year, all of the Merinos will be sold to build a pure Texel line.
Since the start, the Wauchopes have selected their rams from Mr Glover's stud.
"Jim is a very good sheep farmer," Mr Wauchope said.
"We don't want rams with too big a frame/shoulders as it can create difficulties at lambing for the ewes."
The rams go in with the ewes just after Christmas with lambing starting in June through to July.
"I tried lambing earlier but I like to lamb down onto green feed because that way you don't lose any lambs because they grow quicker," Mr Wauchope said.
Their lambing percentage was strong this year, achieving 130 per cent with plenty of twins born.
"I was very happy with that," he said.
"If you feed the ewes well they will produce strong lambs, feed is what makes the lambs grow."
Mr Wauchope sells 50 lambs per week to Mondo Di Carne butcher in Perth.
One group of lambs had an average fat score of 2.4, with some lambs dressing at 28 kilograms and some achieved more than 30kg dressed.
"They dress out very well," he said.
"We put a lot of effort into what we do and we are pretty proud of it."
Mr Wauchope doesn't produce enough lambs to fill the weekly order on his own so he purchases his lambs from another Texel producer at Kojonup.
"I'm keeping all his first cross ewes, which are Texel-Merino and mating them back to Texels and that's the perfect scenario for me," he said.
Mr Wauchope said he got into sheep when prices were at a low point in the industry but said that has changed drastically with some of the highest prices now being reached, since he started his sheep enterprise.
"I was buying sheep for $60 per head for old ewes and now they are $200," he said.
"It's the greatest move I've ever made."
Shearing is in October/ November depending on what the weather is like.
He said the crossbreds did well for wool cut and he has won some awards for the wool in the past.
"When wool was doing well a couple of years ago we got up to 1100 cents a kilogram greasy for our crossbred wool," Mr Wauchope said.
The micron is about 19 for the Merinos and 24 for the crossbreds.
Fodder crops are the only crops grown on the properties and are solely for the sheep.
"I am busy 12 months of the year with the sheep," he said.
The sheep are fed continuously throughout the year but due to the Wauchopes having to spend an exorbitant amount of money on pellets they have started growing their own fodder crops, which include Super Sweet Sudan and rapeseed.
Of that land, 15-20 hectares is irrigated and Mr Wauchope said he had seen a noticeable difference in the growth of the pastures.
"We have saved about $80,000 per year by growing our own feed," he said.
The sheep are trail-fed because Mr Wauchope said he could regulate the feed rations better.
He also baled hay every year.
"Hay and lupins are the best things for sheep," he said.
"I try to keep things as simple as I can."
The seasonal conditions have certainly changed over the years, as Mr Wauchope said when they first moved to the area they would have 30 frosts per year but now they hardly have any.
The area's average rainfall is up about the 1000 millimetre mark but he said they hadn't received that much rainfall since being on the farm.
"We have a river on it and it has dried up twice in the past couple of years," Mr Wauchope said.
Despite this, he said they always seemed to get just enough rain at the right times to make it through each year.
"It is a great place to farm here, it's a very reliable area," he said.
The 2021 season has brought more rainfall than they have ever had with 516mm falling between May and July.
"This is the best rainfall we have had since we've been here," he said.
