WITH a much improved season in 2011, Gascoyne and Murchison producers are finally getting reward for their perseverance with sheep.
After receiving between 375mm and 500mm since Christmas last year, plentiful feed has ensured the sheep in the area are in great condition and there are large numbers available for export.
Livestock Shipping Services buyers Chris Medcalf and Scott Jewel recently completed a buying run through the area and purchased 14,000 Damara and Dorper cross sheep for export to Jordan.
Mr Medcalf said this trip was the first time in many years the company had been able to purchase such large numbers.
"As a company we continued to go up there and support the pastoralists during the dry years," Mr Medcalf said.
"So this time it was so great to go up there and purchase large drafts and to see everyone in good spirits compared to the previous few years," Mr Medcalf said.
"They all have smiles on their faces after the good season."
Mr Medcalf said many producers introduced Damaras and moved away from the Merino a number of years ago due to the struggling wool market and wild dogs.
"The purity of the Damara is now coming through in the pastoral flocks and as a result we can now go up there and source big drafts of Damara and Dorper crosses for the export market," Mr Medcalf said.
"There is good demand from the Middle East for this type of animal."
The shipment left Fremantle on December 18 on the Bader III.
Before being trucked to Fremantle for loading, the sheep were depoted at the Cripps family's Gladwyn feedlot at Geraldton for five days, and introduced to pellets to acclimatise them for the trip.
Sheep for the shipment were sourced from nine stations which had mustered for the order.
One of those stations was Quobba station, Carnarvon, run by Tim and Sara Meecham.
The Meechams supplied 3500 almost pure Damaras for the shipment.
The family introduced Damaras to the station's Merino flock 12 years ago due to the low wool prices and the low wool yields they were achieving in their wool.
"It was a matter of change or get out," Mr Meecham said.
Mr Meecham said it was the largest draft they had sold off the station in a number of years and was the result of the excellent season they had experienced.
"There was a lot of nine and 10-month-old ram lambs in the line which made shipment because they had put on the weight quicker than usual due to all the extra feed available," Mr Meecham said.
"The feed up here is plentiful and it is just amazing to see how the scrub, which looked dead, regenerated this year."
The station's average rainfall is 225mm but in the last 12 months the station received 357mm over three days at Christmas in 2010 and then an additional 498mm for the rest of the year.
Mr Meecham said as a result of the good season the breeding flock was back up to 11,500 head, after dropping to a low of 5000 head two years ago, due to the dry seasons.
"This just shows how well the Damara breeds," Mr Meecham said.
"We are getting three lambs every two years.
"For the rangleland area they are a magnificent animal for survival and production.
"They reproduce easily and are excellent mothers."
Mr Medcalf said Livestock Shipping Services had a major a long term commitment to the export of exotics.
"We have three ships on the water sourcing sheep out of WA and we have consistent orders coming from the Middle East for these types of sheep," Mr Medcalf said.
"We are the largest entire sheep exporter in Australia to the Middle East."
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