Prime Lamb Australia feedlot mananger, Phil Kemp, says 90 per cent of the lambs the companys feedlot at Cliffton, Queensland, handles are custom feeding jobs for clients who retain ownership of the lambs through to sale.

ONE lamb feedlot in Queensland is filling a gap in the market for lamb finishing and marketing and is getting some great results.

Prime Lamb Australia feedlot manager, Phil Kemp, said the feedlot, at Clifton, Qld, this year expected to feed about 25,000 lambs. “There’s not a breed we haven’t done,” he said. A good 90 per cent of the lambs the feedlot handles are custom feeding jobs for clients who retain ownership of the lambs through to sale. He said they began the feedlot about four years ago as many producers switched from wool to meat sheep due to the prospect of a declining wool market.

Even in a normal season many of the feedlot’s pastoral clients had only a narrow window in which to finish their lambs and they normally couldn’t put together truck-size lots of finished lambs in one go – which was where the custom feeding came in. “Due to the weight gains we get and the premiums we get, it boosts their bottom line as well,” Mr Kemp said.

As well as finishing the lambs, the feedlot staff also marketed them, made easier by their ability to put together

even lines. Some of their lambs had been performing particularly well: a pen of Prime South African Meat Merinos

(SAMM) last year sold for a Queensland record of $168 to Country Fresh.

SAMM lambs have also got the top weight gain for the feedlot at 470 grams a day and the heaviest lamb at 101 kilograms at 11 months old. They were fed for the export market, in which Mr Kemp said the breed excelled. “It’s horses for courses, but your big money is always in your big heavy export lamb and with SAMMs you can get a higher proportion into the export job than any other breed,” he said.

He said their feed conversion ratios were right up there with the best, at eight to nine kilograms of feed to one kilogram of dressed weight gain. Helping the lambs adjust to feedlot life was a new induction program which Mr Kemp said had got them below the previous one per cent expected loss rate. “We’ve lost four lambs in the last 1500 we’ve fed,” he said.

The feedlot charged a $1 a head induction fee and the lambs were fed at the going cost (presently at 24 cents a kilogram of feed) with a yard fee of 11 cents a head also included. The growth in demand hadn’t been quite as rapid as Mr Kemp first expected as he said some people appeared to be sceptical about the value-adding process.

When compared with store lambs, he said the feeding process added anything from $5 to $12 a head to the lamb’s value, which could add up quickly across a whole mob. All the export lambs from the feedlot were sold to Andrew Jackson at Country Fresh, and killed at the company’s

Tamworth abattoir.

The main period when the feedlot was searching for lambs was during summer, due to the seasonally low supply. Mr Kemp said the heavier the lambs were when they entered the better, but it wasn’t economical to background lambs. Basically, they could gain weight quickly in the feedlot, and if they needed the feedlot to finish, there probably wasn’t enough feed available to background them anyway, he said.

Above: The carcases of the $168 pen of SAMM lambs.

Pictured Above: Mr Peter Southwell.

Bredbo lambs go over-the-hooks

THE SAMM lambs are meaty “beyond expectation” on the Bredbo commercial breeding enterprise, “Mt Dowling”, says manager, Peter Southwell. When it comes to marketing, the top lambs are sold over the hook. “Grant (Picker) told me right from the first day, never to sell our lambs through the saleyards; always put them over-the-hooks,” Mr Southwell said. “Meat buyers were uncertain, but abattoirs knew the worth of these carcases.” These days, however, Mr Southwell (pictured), said he does market the tail-enders through the yards.

This year, the 398-head draft, which sold to Country Fresh, Tamworth, averaged 34 kilograms dressed. “We locked them in at $4.40 about three to four weeks earlier,” he said. This year, the draft returned an average $150.26 a head. Mr Southwell said he normally grew the lambs out on winter wheats, on a 160ha paddock. “But it was too dry this year and I was hand-feeding in April,” he said.

“So I organised for them to go to ‘Carmyle’, Tottenham, from early May,” he said. There the lambs grazed on lucerne for as long as four weeks, then they were shorn and put onto a barley crop where they finished in late August.

FOR Peter Southwell, the flat wool market this year may return between 500 and 520 cents a kilogram for the wool. But it’s his wether lambs off the ewes that are making the “Mt Dowling” Prime SAMM upgrading enterprise at Bredbo, more than worth the effort.

Two years ago, the drafts averaged $119 a head while last year they jumped to $122/head.

“This August 398 lambs fetched an average $150.26 and I’ve still got 12 bales of wool in the shed from our shearing to sell,” Mr Southwell said. For more than 30 years, Mr Southwell has been managing the Bredbo acreage of close to 1000 hectares for Canberra-based neurologist, Dr Colin Andrews, and his wife, Kay.

Dr Andrews is a Tottenham son and the couple have also invested in a 7000ha aggregation in that district as well. Mr Southwell’s association with the Andrews began in 1974 when they purchased a small block next to him along the Bredbo-Jerangle road. “Back in those days, I had a bulldozer and was contract clearing as well as doing other contracting work and I ended up managing his acreage here,” he said.

Towards the end of the 1990s,Mr Southwell said he could not see a great future in wool, so he suggested the Merryville-blood Merino flock needed to change direction. “It was about this time the South African breeds were becoming popular and the sheep areas of that continent were similar to this area,” he said. “We looked at the breeds as we didn’t want to lose the wool factor entirely, but could see gains to be made in the meat production side. “An Elders agent took us to inspect SAMMs at Grant Picker’s Bigga stud, near Crookwell, in 1999 and we have been buying his rams ever since.

“This year’s drop of lambs are F4s or ‘pures’. “It’s been a long road, but we’re there.” At the time, the Merino flock was averaging 18.5 micron with a 4.5 to five kilogram average wool cut. “But we were getting about 800c/kg back then and while the SAMM wool broadened, the dollar return for lamb more than compensated,” Mr Southwell said. The younger sheep, hoggets, are measuring 20 to 20.5 microns while the older ewes are showing 21 to 22 microns, depending on how the season goes and the amount of hand feeding.

“It’s dry down here; it’s been bad for 10 years,”Mr Southwell said.

The ewes are now cutting about 3.5kg of wool, which returns between $15 and $16/head. “We’ve still kept 200 Merino ewes from the original flock, but have cut back on SAMM numbers to 530 ewes this year,” he said.

Above: Picutred with the $6100 top-priced ram at l the Dubbo Annual SAMM Ram Sale are vendors Grant & Michael Picker, bigga Stud, Bigga, and buyer Digby Boland, Moree.

PRIME SAMM rams hit a top of $6100 at last week’s seventh annual Dubbo Prime SAMM ram sale. A 96 per cent clearance was achieved as 48 of 50 rams sold, averaging $1259. Top honours went to the first lot, offered by Grant and Jenna Picker, Bigga stud, Bigga, for the 120-kilogram 08-294. It was secured by Digby Boland, “Lagnacourt”, Moree, for $6100. The June 2008-drop ram had an eye muscle depth (EMD) of 36.3 millimetres and fat depth of 6.5mm. Mr Boland said the ram appealed to him for its massive size and quality fleece with good fibre alignment. Mr Boland runs about 7000 ewes based on Collinsville Merino bloodlines.

He breeds about 300 rams each year – cut down to about 30 to 40 through classing – in his own ram nucleus program, selecting on body size, wool quality and early maturity. Mr Boland also took the last lot of the day, a 120.5kg ram offered by Terry and Cheryl Bradshaw, Sandown stud, Springdale, for $2400. This ram, 08-0166, had an EMD of 45.7mm, and fat depth of 11.5mm. The Bigga stud sold all eight rams it offered, to average $2000.

The second-top-priced ram was sold by the Bradshaw family’s Sandown stud, which offered two rams and averaged $2450. Mick Quinlivan, Quintarra Farms, Esperance, Western Australia, was the successful purchaser of the 119.5kg ram, 08-0210, paying $2500. The ram had the biggest EMD of the sale at 50.3mm, with a fat depth of 8.1mm.

Steve and Geraldine Gough, Belmore stud, Yeoval, sold their 15 rams to a top of $2200 and average of $1187. Hurstmead Pastoral Company’s Ramco stud, Darlington Point, offered 15 rams and sold 13 to a top of $2000 and average of $1123. The Kopp family’s Towalba stud, Peak Hill, sold its 10 rams to a top of $1300 and average of $730.

Volume buyer was Ben McKinnon, for McKinnon and Company, “Yarrawin”, Brewarrina, who took nine rams to a top of $1600 and averaged $889. Paul and Cheryl Wilson, “Karlo”, Walgett, secured five rams to a top of $1200 and average of $876. Selling agents were Elders and Landmark Dubbo, with Paul Jameson and John Settree taking the bids.

SAMM lambs have been awarded 2nd and 3rd place in the largest carcass competition in Queensland................

The Prime Lamb Australia feedlot at Clifton entered the lambs in the 'Leitch Pastoral Group Prime Lamb Carcass Competition' at the Ekka, 'Royal Queensland Show' on behalf of John and Lyndie Beynon, Lindon Samm, Uralla NSW and Bill and Sally Cripps, Melrose SAMM, Blackall QLD.

Second place was awarded to the Beynon’s 'Pen of Three Restaurant Lambs'. (pictured below left: Johnnie and Gwynne Beynon, Lindon Samm with their lambs on display at the Ekka)

Thrid place was awarded to the Cripps 'Pen of Three Restaurant Lambs'. This is the second year in a row they have featured in the ribbons. Well done. (picutred left Bill Cripps Melrose SAMM with his lambs at Pittsworth Abbottoir on judging day).

Special thanks must go the Phil Kemp and Staff from Prime Lamb Australia who finished the lambs.

1110 Talgai West Road, VICTORIA HILL, Via Cliffton QLD 4361

Telephone: 07 4666 2051 email: play@skymesh.com.au

Prime Lamb Australia (PLA)

• State of the art approved 20,000 head standing capacity
• Well equipped facilities for shearing, weighing, and general animal handling
• Centrally located to domestic and export abattoirs
• Strong established markets for a wide range of wights and types
• Manged by a qualified animal nutritionist with >30years experience in sheep production
• Professional nutritional and veterinary back-up.

        Services Provided by PLA

• Contract feeding for both producers and processors
• Outright purchase of store lambs
• Feeding finance available for approved lambs

Bendigo Sheep & Wool Show 2008

Judge: Ian Bucknall, Lakes Entrance

Champion Ram: Ramco                                    Reserve: Ramco                              

Champion Ewe: Ramco                                     Reserve: Ramco

Supreme Champion: Ramco                              Reserve:

Most successful Novice EXhibitor Wonnara

Most Successful Exhibitor Ramco

Australian Fleece Competition:

Champion SAMM Fleece: G.F & C.M Rathjen, Homfield.

Left Photo: Champion and Reserve Champion Ram, Ramco

Dubbo Show 2008

The Land Newspaper 1st May, 2008, Brad Wilson

Prime South African Meat Merino (SAMM) awards were shared between Steve and Geraldine Gough, Belmore stud, Yeoval and the Beynon family, Lindon stud Uralla.

The Junior and grand champion ram exhibited by Belmore stud came head to head with the senior and grand champion ewe, exhibited by Lindon Stud.  The judge opted for the ewe as the supreme exhibit.  Her sire, 040039, was purchased in a 50 percent partnership by the Beynon family from Sunnyside stud, Western Australia, for $10,000.

Champions

Junior and grand ram: Belmore stud,

Junior ewe: Belmore

Senior and grand ewe and supreme exhibit: Lindon stud, Uralla

Left Photo: Lindon Samm stud, Uralla and the supreme exhibit

Bendigo Show Results, 2007

Supreme Champion Ram (left), Grant & Jenna Picker, Bigga SAMM,

Champion & Reserve champion ewe, Grant & Jenna Picker, Bigga SAMM

Reserve Champion Ram, Graeme & Lyn Wright, Braeside SAMM, Boree Creek

Dubbo Show Results - May 2007

Champions
Junior and grand ram, supreme exhibit: Phillip & Suzanne Swain, Budda-View stud, Peak Hill.  Res: Budda-View Stud. Senior ram: Westray stud, Peak Hill. 
Res: Budda View. Junior ewe: Budda-View. Res: Budda View. Senior and Grand ewe: Budda-View, Res: John & Lyndie Beynon, Lindon Stud, Uralla. Most Successful exhibitor: Open - Budda-View, Novice - Lindon.

Left Photo : Elders sheep specialist, Bevan Jolly, sashes the junior and grand champion Prime Samm ram of the Dubbo Show, held and exhibited by Phillip Swain, Budda-View stud, Peak Hill, while the judge, Graham Gilmore, Tattykeel stud, Oberon, sashes the senior champion ram, held and exhibited by Ray Cannon, Westray stud, Peak Hill
(photo courtesy of the Land Newspaper)