SECOND-generation farmer Glenn Davies can vouch that he is a Merino lover through and through.
He is involved in the business with wife Sandra, mother Karen and father Ray Davies.
With Merinos being a feature in the family since his mother was a girl, they are showing no signs of ditching the breed anytime soon.
Karen Davies grew up on a local property running the breed - that property has since been bought back and is farmed by the Davies family.
Sandra and Glenn's children, Blake and Shanae both work in the agriculture industry.
Blake works in merchandise for Elders at Wagin, while Shanae is employed by Elders Insurance, Katanning.
Mr Davies' home property Taree, indigenous for wild fig, still accommodates some of the fig trees to help keep the name alive.
Taree was bought by Karen and Ray Davies when Glenn was five years old, as a smaller property that has now expanded considerably.
Ray Davies is also no stranger to the industry.
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Prior to his farming days as well as during them, you could almost always find him with a handpiece in hand.
The now 2500 hectare family run property has 3000 Merino ewes that are all joined to their 100 Merino rams, as well as a variety of crops, including canola, oats and wheat, making up 610 hectares of the farm.
This has dropped 60 per cent to previous years due to a 152pc increase in input costs.
Usually the family would also have an additional lupin and barley crop but this year that didn't happen.
"We have cut right back on cropping this year due to the increase in input costs, we prefer running sheep out here as they are less of a risk than a crop is," Mr Davies said.
In previous years the family cropped 1600 hectares, comprising 200ha of canola and lupins, 300ha of barley, 400ha of oats and 500ha of wheat.
"Sheep numbers are definitely slowly rising and we are backing off on the cropping side of things - we are sowing more pasture now," he said.
"We have recently dropped a crop lease and sown 180 hectares of clover to increase our sheep numbers."
Mr Davies tends to do a lot of pasture improvement and manipulation and aims to sow a high amount of clover and eliminate the capeweed.
With a noticeable increase in sheep in comparison to the cropping ratio, it is likely to stay that way.
Mr Davies loves the breed because of its multi-purpose use.
"I like the way we can use the sheep as both a meat-based sheep and for its fleece," he said.
"They provide a dual income stream and are certainly much less risky than cropping at the moment."
The Davies utilise their onsite feedlot to finish off their lambs, cull ewe lambs and wethers before selling them off to WAMMCO.
The wether lambs and cull ewe lambs enter the feedlot at about 38 kilograms and spend three months there from the age of nine months to 12 months before leaving the property.
"They usually get sent off at 55kg but this year they went at more than 65kg because of delays in killing space due to COVID-19 staff issues," Mr Davies said.
"1800 head averaged just over $200, it was certainly the highest return we have ever had by far, but actual profit was not quite as exciting as we had to hang on to them longer, blowing the feed budget out.
"During their time in the feedlot the stock received Milne Feeds pellets, with this year being the first time trialing these pellets in the feedlot.
"We used to make our own feed before using Milnes, but we stopped because it turned out to be too labour intensive.
"So we are keen to see how the lambs go on the pellets.
"Prior to entering the feedlot the wethers are shorn and drenched so that once they leave the feedlot they are ready for sale."
Over the years the property's Merino breeding program has not changed as it continues to produce its ideal sheep.
"In line with what we are aiming to breed is a consistent, early-maturing ewe with a big, strong frame and has a good crimp and a 20-21 micron rating," Mr Davies said.
This is the type of progeny they are producing and will continue to do so.
Rams are bred on the property using sires from various studs in the area, including Woolkabin, Belmont Park and Sunnyview, producing Poll Merino rams.
The Davies family breeds its own rams in a nucleus flock on the property and has used all three stud bloodlines for 40 years - Woolkabin being the first and used back when Karen was growing up.
Mr Davies selects the rams, using figures as well as visual appraisal.
Each year he keeps 600 replacement ewes that are classed by his preferred sheep classer, Ashley Lock.
These ewes are joined with the rams every mid-January.
For the past 10-12 years, the business has pregnancy tested, separating any twin-bearing ewes into small 150 head mobs.
After scanning, any dry ewes are sent straight to WAMMCO.
Over the summer, leading up to lambing, the ewes are supplementary fed a mix of oats, lupins and barley to give them a boost.
"For the past six years we have been at an average of 100pc lambing rate," Mr Davies said.
In mid-June, the lambs start dropping, followed by the shearing season.
Shearing commences in March, although back in the 1980s, prior to that shearing was in August with lambing in April.
"The idea of shearing in March and lambing in June, means that the ewes lamb with no wool," he said.
"Management-wise, we find it much more convenient this way."
Post shearing, wool is sold and marketed through Westcoast Wool & Livestock and this year their May shorn clip was sold and averaged $8.80 per kg, greasy.
Weaning takes place at the beginning of September, lambs are weaned off the ewes and vaccinated, drenched and had CLik applied.
Mr Davies views the current wool market as a bit of a rollercoaster.
"Personally I think we sold at the right time, but it's very uncertain at what the future holds in terms of wool marketing, it's very unstable," he said.
"At this stage, my father and I are looking forward to taking our feet off the pedal and enjoying a smaller, less intensive style of farming."
