WAMMCO

Hyden producers Tom, Donna and Gerard Lynch took the $100 "WAMMCO Producer of the Month" award for October, with a line of 185 Merino/Poll Dorset cross lambs with an average weight of 23.7 kg. The lambs were processed at Katanning on October 15, averaging $87.50 per head under a WAMMCO supply contract.

The winning lambs scored 457 points on the judging grid used for the monthly contest.

Tom Lynch said low wool returns were responsible for the family shift into prime lamb production about six years ago. Poll Dorset rams are used over cfa Merino ewes from the home flock, or purchased Merino ewes, to produce about 800 prime lambs each year.

The lamb enterprise is run on “Limeric” a property held by the Lynch family since inception in 1922.

With advice from feedlotters in the Hyden area, Tom began feeding some of his lambs after serious drought two years ago.

This year to capitalise on the US market for heavier lambs, he has dropped a second crop of lambs in August and will feed them through for delivery to WAMMCO in March.

“By running smaller ewe mobs, getting better use of our Poll Dorset sires and feeding the lambs to US weights, we expect to increase turnoff and profitability from our lamb enterprise,” Tom said.

“The decline in live sheep exports is making lamb production more attractive to more farmers, but meeting the higher weight and quality requirements requires a fair degree of commitment.”