WAMMCO

Last year, in a  good season, he won the title with a line of 280 Suffolk/Merino cross lambs that averaged  26.21 kg to return $93.79 per head including skin.

This year, - one of the most difficult he has encountered at Gnowangerup -, his winning line of 175 Suffolk/Merino cross lambs  weighed an average of  26.03 kg and returned $89.39.

In 2005, he shifted the primary ration for his lambs from lupins to wheaten hay and oats to keep fat scores under control.

This year’s poor season ensured that fat was not a problem, in fact  98.9 percent of lambs in the winning consignment  were in the preferred score 2 and 3 category.

He said  his property “Ever-Rest”  was in an exceptionally  dry pocket of country to the north of Gnowangerup, and  had recorded only about 16 mm of rainfall between January and June.

“I had to buy in hay and pellets to see me through  and managed to secure just enough to finish the last consignment that went to WAMMCO last week,” he said.

A good rain in July has since significantly altered the pasture picture, and enabled him to recently complete his seeding program.

He said  this year’s three consignments of lambs were again delivered under WAMMCO contracts, with the winning line of  175 lambs processed on July 17 to return $3.29 per kilogram.

Arthur has not owned a sheepdog for many years and has developed a ‘low stress’ system of stock management based on ‘drifting mobs between paddocks and to and from yards without unsettling them. He also uses a technique of  trailing out feed to allow for shy feeders, and to minimise the ‘tail’ in each mob.