AS sheep prices continue to remain strong, farmers are advised to focus on managing their enterprise well to improve their profitability.
According to agricultural consultants, it's not about what enterprise you choose to do, it's how well you do it.
Agricultural consultant Ashley Herbert, Agrarian Management, Katanning, is quite confident in the current strength of the sheep industry and believes the high sheep prices are here to stay.
Mr Herbert said no one sheep enterprise was more profitable than the other; it just depends on the how well it was managed.
"Prime lambs and wool are both doing well - there's not much variation between the two groups," Mr Herbert said.
"Even though livestock prices are particularly high at the moment, nothing has really changed in the past few years in principal.
"It's more about how well you run your enterprise, such as having the appropriate stocking rate, managing costs and whether the animals are sold well.
"Keeping an eye on the amount of grain fed, particularly when finishing lambs, is an important component of cost control.
"Feed grain prices are low at the moment so there is the inclination to attempt to finish more lambs.
"Producers should do their sums carefully on this exercise and make sure there is a sufficiently high margin to reward for the risk, cost and effort."
But he said having a few more prime lambs is likely to be slightly more profitable provided they are done well.
"A base flock of Merino ewes is the most profitable, but whether you join to a Merino or a terminal sire doesn't really matter," he said.
"I don't see any fundamental reason why farmers would swap a pure Merino flock to a Merino crossbred - the shipping market is very strong and wool is selling quite well."
Bob Hall, a consultant with JRL Hall and Co, Darkan, said a combination of a wool and meat enterprise was the most profitable sheep system for the majority of farmers around his area, if not the Great Southern.
"Clearly an enterprise that has a high lambing survival is a key to profit being vital to provide good figures for sheep trading, which adds to wool income for Merino sheep," Mr Hall said.
"There are two profit centres with Merinos ? wool and livestock trading."
He said some people with Merinos mate to crossbreds, which enable them to keep Merinos that aren't good enough for the Merino enterprise, in production.
"For example, you could take a lower producing sheep and mate it to a prime lamb without interfering with the excellence of the Merino flock," Mr Hall said.
"Lower performing sheep can still be useful in the enterprise."
In the Darkan area, the average farm enterprise consists of about 40 per cent cropping and 60pc sheep.
Mr Hall said livestock trading used to make up 10pc of income from Merinos but now it makes up 50pc or even more.
For many farmers, the price of wool was disappointing, but Mr Hall said wool was still important to profit and the price of wool was slowly improving.
Mr Hall said changing the sheep enterprise to seek higher profits was seldom a solution.
"Some people are looking for the silver bullet," he said.
"There is evidence that there is more variation within any particular enterprise than there is between enterprises.
"Therefore, the real challenge is to do what you do well, like focusing on Merinos.
"If you can't succeed in Merinos, then you won't tend to make it in anything else.
"You have to ask yourself if your enterprise is capable of improvement, and do you know where to look for improvement?"
Mr Hall said the key areas to focus on this year included achieving an appropriate stocking rate, livestock trading and looking at livestock sales and cost structures.
He said it was sensible to pay particular attention to keeping the lambs alive.
"This year, this will come from better ewe nutrition because grain is cheaper, and more feeding is taking place combined with the very dry summer which is producing better quality paddock feed," he said.
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