SIGNIFICANT increases in lamb production are under way on the Kulin property of WAMMCO's Producer of the Year for 2021 Michael Lucchesi, who also capped his family's best season on record by winning WAMMCO's Lamb Producer of the Month for December.
The Lucchesi family entered WAMMCO's winners' circle in 2019 when it placed second in the 2018/19 Producer of the Year competition.
This was followed by second place in the State competition the following year before going on to be named Producer of the Year for 2020/21.
The Lucchesis had also previously won the Producer of the Month title for November 2020.
All of these wins have comprised a highly successful mix of lotfeeding about 3000 store lambs and a further 2100 Poll Dorset and White Suffolk crossbred lambs bred on the property from a Merino ewe flock and with rams from Nick and Gina Cheetham's Cheetara stud at Narembeen.
It was from this mix of lambs that the Lucchesis delivered the December 2021 line of 725 lambs to win Producer of the Month title.
These lambs were processed at Katanning on December 17 and weighed an average of 22.46 kilograms - a WAMMCO Sweet Spot score of 97.52 per cent.
The Lucchesi family delivered 1397 lambs to WAMMCO in December, averaging 21.61kg with a sweet spot percentage of 95.6pc.
Their breeding/buying/ lotfeeding venture resulted in the sale of more than 5000 lambs to Katanning since July 2021 and along with rising fertiliser and input costs, underscored the decision to change the cropping/lamb ratio in favour of more lambs.
Depending on prices and conditions, Mr Lucchesi and his co-ordinator, Paul Bailey who joined the Kulin operation three years ago, expect to lift the store lamb component to between 4000 and 6000 lambs and to double their Poll Dorset/WhiteSuffolk-Merino crossbreeding flock to 3000 ewes.
They will continue to work with local Westcoast Wool & Livestock agent Barry Gangell to access store lambs and prepare consignments.
Mr Lucchesi said there was scope for more farmers to profit from lamb, provided they were committed and well organised.
"If you are not really interested and don't have the labour and back-up, a lamb venture can end up very hard work," Mr Lucchesi said.
"We aim to send lambs to the feedlot at 42kg and to sell them six weeks later at 48kg or better using our own grain, hay and straw.
"There is a good potential profit at current prices and we are counting on WAMMCO to continue to maximise export returns in the face of a range of global threats."
Mr Lucchesi has also recently formed a partnership with fellow Kulin farmer Jay Robertson to equip their new Jilakin earthmoving business with an innovative WA designed and made machine to reclaim ironstone country for farming.
"We are in the process of hiring the Reefinator machine to other landowners who wish to reclaim their ironstone country for extra cropping and pasture production," Mr Lucchesi said.
"There have been many positive reports on the success of this new system and Jay and I intend to use the machine on our own gravel country."
He said 2021 had held few surprises for his family - apart from the astonishing success of the season.
"With 420 millimetres of rain for the season, my 71 year-old father Sergio says he has never seen such a brilliant season in more than 50 years of farming in WA," Mr Lucchesi said.
Want weekly news highlights delivered to your inbox? Sign up to the Farm Weekly newsletter.
