Lamb Production

Approximately 83 mm of rain fell in the Tocumwal area over December. Summer crop sowing has been progressing rapidly, in order to make full use of good soil moisture. The first of the Summer crops have germinated and are now sprouted. 650 fattened lambs were sold late in the month, with an average carcass weight of 23 kg and excellent feedback on meat quality. Sales were delayed several weeks due to constraints on abattoir space. We will continue to sell several more shipments over December. Rams have been put out with several mobs of ewes to commence next year’s breeding cycle. Ewes will be scanned for pregnancy in several weeks. Information from each breeding cycle is recorded for measuring genetic improvement.

New Purchases

The team secured our second property, Belmont. Given its location adjacent to Marabou, this will provide for great operational efficiency. It also has a 600 megalitre annual water allocation, which will be most useful for irrigated grazing during Summer. Fencing installation continued over the month, but has not been fully completed. We terminated our contract with a fencing contractor due to poor quality work and are now in the process of recovering fees already advanced to them. A new contractor has been appointed and has commenced work.

First signs of Summer feed crops emerging