WAVERLEY Park has gone against the trend of time in Merino sheep breeding.
Unlike most, brother-and-sister duo Luke Edwards and Anna Jennings chase a heavy wrinkle skin, rather than an easy-care, plain body.
For the second-generation farmers it is simple - more skin means more wool and more wool means more money.
Mr Edwards and Ms Jennings pride themselves on producing a quality wool clip and top genetics in a 6000 head Merino flock - including 3200 ewes mated - across 1800 hectares at Beverley.
The Edwards family heritage can be traced as far back as 150 years in the Wheatbelt district, when descendants and farmers William and Eleanor owned the first trading post.
In 1961, a deposit for 800ha of farming land was loaned to Mr Edwards and Ms Jennings' father Max and uncle Dale.
"Our pop Steve owned a menswear shop in town," Ms Jennings said.
"He gave dad and his brother (aged 16 and 19 years) the deposit for some acreage west of Beverley and they were told to pay it off."
About 13 years later, Max purchased a 440ha pocket of land, which is today known as Waverley Park.
Over the next five decades, the family business Edwards Ag expanded in properties Coolaring (1990), Derrikan (2000), Kendelin (2010) and Horsford (2017).
Mr Edwards stayed at the farm, working alongside parents Max and Rosemary until they retired, while Ms Jennings returned in 2017.
This proved to be an era for change at Edwards Ag.
It is said a lot can change in a year, but how much can change in four?
After an injury left Mr Edwards out of work for three months, he crunched numbers and looked at ways to make life on the land easier.
The answer?
Lease the cropping country, phase out crossbreds and focus solely on Merinos.
"We ran Merinos predominantly, but there were also a number of Poll Dorsets in our flock," Mr Edwards said.
"While the crossbreds made us decent money, they caused more trouble than the lambs were worth.
"When the market turned, we realised we could make just as much from wool and sold the surplus to other farmers."
Mr Edwards had been naturally breeding rams in his commercial flock and was producing strong results.
However, he wanted to take the focus on quality a step further by improving genetics and conception rates.
This could be done through artificial insemination and embryo transfer programs.
Ms Jennings' return to the farm five years ago pushed breeding into such a direction, and they have not looked back since.
After some research, Kojonup-based Genstock was chosen as the breeding centre of choice.
Top ewes were classed into an elite nucleus flock by Mr Edwards and stockman Wayne Webb.
The decision-making process was driven by wool and conformation traits, as well as other physical attributes, they wanted progeny to inherit.
A stud was also chosen - with the best suited wool characteristics - for artificial insemination.
The program works by over stimulating the ewe, so she produces more eggs in time for artificial insemination.
Embryos of the top ewes were collected to be transferred into 'surrogate' or recipient sheep.
Admittedly, the first year was a learning curve with 49 embryos flushed from 15 ewes.
While Mr Edwards and Ms Jennings were pleased with the results - having nothing to compare them to -Genstock was not.
"They looked at the possibilities and realised the semen wasn't quite right," Ms Jennings said.
"The sheep programmed well, however we didn't get the fertilisation rate we would have wanted.
"With embryo transfer you can very quickly see where you have gone wrong and right."
This was further cemented, when the lambs dropped and so Mr Edwards and Ms Jennings sought a different bloodline.
Both embryo transfer and artificial insemination has proved to be a gamechanger at Edwards Ag.
Already, the business has grown by leaps and bounds, having reached a point where it no longer has an artificial insemination program.
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Instead, rams - which have been bred through the program - are put over the stud mobs.
Meanwhile, embryo transfer has remained integral to the breeding.
Ms Jennings said to breed such high quality animals, and have their genetics flow on through the commercial mob, was comparable to buying rams.
"We don't buy rams anymore," she said.
"Genstock has stored the semen straws we purchased and we use the animals we have produced.
"We see the sheep, class them at marking and anything we don't want we mark with a tag."
To date, the largest number of embryos flushed from a single ewe has been 23.
This means that single ewe's genetics were produced 23 times in one year - across 23 different recipients - rather than the elite ewe producing only one lamb per year.
Mr Edwards and Ms Jennings are now in a position where they can be 'picky' about what genetics they use.
For example, if a ewe doesn't produce enough embryos or the lambs aren't of a high enough quality/have undesirable traits they are either cast or pushed back into the stud mob or commercial flock.
By using their own genetics, the sheep flock progressed further in four years than it did in 15 years.
"Now, Luke is classing for what he wants and joining when he wants," Ms Jennings said.
"We are seeing the flow-on effect through both our nucleus and commercial mob."
Joining was moved back a month from December to January 1 when stock numbers were lightened.
By doing so lambs drop on greener pastures, which helps with overall onfarm management.
Previously, Mr Edwards said he would have battled to keep ewes in condition if the dry season lingered.
"Lambing is now around the traditional break in early May, so it isn't difficult to keep ewes in good condition," he said.
"You can't substitute green feed when you are lambing."
Ms Jennings added, lambing was now her favourite time of the year, as she loved seeing the results on the ground.
"I think we must check the lambs 10 times a day between us," she said.
"We used to walk through the paddock, tag them and match them up to their mother.
"We didn't do that this year, because we are going to DNA test over the cradle at marking to work out their parentage."
Edwards Ag works on an average lambing percentage of 75-80pc.
This year, twin percentages increased off the back of favourable summer conditions.
Wethers are usually agisted onto stubble in neighbouring properties, to increase weight and improve condition before they are sold into the live export market.
Meanwhile, ewes are cast for age at six to seven years old.
For Mr Edwards, it has taken about 30 years to see results in both sheepmeat and wool.
He held onto sheep when the wool market crashed, swam against the tide and just managed to scrape by.
"Dad loved sheep and I don't think he wanted to let them go," he said.
"We also were predominantly in sheep country, which was not necessarily suited to cropping due to the higher rainfall.
"Sheep have always made us money."
The high rainfall means Mr Edwards and Ms Jennings selected genetics with a nice, white and waxy wool with water repellency to prevent discolouration.
Shearing starts in September, and wool averages 17 micron and about 4.5 kilograms per head.
There's no denying, breeding rams - through artificial insemination and embryo transfer - and running heavier skinned animals are the two biggest changes Edwards Ag has made to its sheep operation.
And it has helped produce a better nourished wool, which does not attract flystrike, dermatitis or fleece rot.
"Previously, we wouldn't jet at tailing time and cop a lot of flystrike," Mr Edwards said.
"I think we would produce a bale of fly blown wool come shearing.
"Today, we battle to get one and this rolls onto the following year in wool and lamb production."
Quality onfarm management means a decrease in stock loss and improved animal welfare outcomes.
Usually, animals graze on pasture paddocks, however in drier conditions they are fed mainly lupins and barley.
Ms Jennings' 15-year-old daughter, Lily, is also involved with the family farm and hopes to one day take the reins.
Admittedly, moving to a sheep farm ignited her interest in the animal.
"It wasn't until we moved that I realised you can breed for what you want," Lily said.
"I have since developed a real interest in the sheep industry, particularly the AI and ET side of things."
The year 10 student recently completed a week of work experience at Genstock.
She was able to see first-hand how the business operates and exactly what they do with the semen once it is collected.
"I know what I am going to do in the future is going to have something to do with sheep," Lily said.
"But in the meantime, I have to focus on getting through school."
