Poll Dorsets tick the boxes for Squiers family at Pingelly

The Pingelly prime lamb producers are strong supporters of the Poll Dorset and the many beneficial traits they contribute to their first cross lamb program.

Mr Squiers spent many of his younger years shearing off-farm and developed a keen eye and strong sense of what constituted a productive sheep.

So when the opportunity arose in 1997 to move to and take-over the family farm, both the Squiers were clear on the direction they wanted to take their family's Merino flock.

David's parents, Albert and Maartje Squiers, moved from the original family farm at Quairading in 1959 after purchasing the initial Pingelly property when they married.

A Merino flock has always prominently featured in farming life for the Squiers family and to this day continues to play an important role in the couple's business.

Of their 2000 Merino breeding ewes, 1300 are mated to Merna Poll Merino rams and 700 of the older, cast for age and culled hogget ewes are joined with Poll Dorset rams.

And if the Squiers' name and Poll Dorset in the same sentence are ringing a bell, it would be because the Squiers purchase their rams from their relatives and Poll Dorset stud breeders Chris, Adrian and Sascha Squiers, Shirlee Downs and Dongadilling, Quairading.

A couple of decades ago, when demand for wool was at its lowest, Mr Squiers said they started looking at how they could diversify their sheep operation and open different revenue streams through prime lamb production.

"We looked hard at our cash flow and decided we needed to diversify our operation," Mr Squiers said.

"It's the same old story of not wanting to put all your eggs in the one basket.

"We still enjoy producing a quality wool clip, but currently meat is worth more to our business."

After the main shearing in April, the Squiers send more than 100 bales of wool trundling out the farm gate, usually averaging well over six kilograms skirted for fleeces and some years have even reached up to 8kg skirted.

But it's the prime lamb production that powers extra profit for the family and Mr Squiers does everything he can to ensure its success.

It's certainly a happy new year for the rams when they join the ewes on January 1 every year at 2.5 per cent, when both the Merino and Poll Dorset rams are sent out to work.

The Merino rams are drafted off after six weeks and extra Poll Dorset rams are then sent in with the ewes as an insurance policy, giving every ewe on the property every opportunity to produce a lamb.

Mr Squiers' reasoning for this is to ensure they are running the most productive females possible, while also being able to mules in mid-July knowing there won't be any late Merino lambs.

He said they usually get an extra 50 to 60 F1 Poll Dorset-Merino lambs from doing this.

The first lot of lambs start to drop on the Squiers' 800 hectare (croppable) property in early June, usually correlating to the first mob of four-month-old F1 Poll Dorset-Merino lambs ready later in the year to be sold onfarm to Fletchers International.

Once that first consignment of lambs reaches a minimum of 44kg liveweight, they are sold in early October, with the assistance of Elders Narrogin livestock agent Jeff Brown.

The rest of the lambs are shorn later that month to produce a wool clip, then put onto stubbles and supplemented with lupins to bring them up to specification by January.

Most are sold onfarm to Fletchers, as Mr Squiers said he appreciates knowing what price he will receive before the lambs leave the farm.

Bringing lambs up to specification has always been easy with the hybrid vigour instilled by the robust Poll Dorset-Merino genetic combination and Mr Squiers believes the Poll Dorset has the best traits for the job.

"The Poll Dorsets have the best genetics and throw the best crossbred lamb," he said.

"They have no problem reaching weight targets quickly and have traits that produce a hybrid vigour well suited to the market.

"They are such strong animals, sturdy on their feet and with all the meat characteristics that everyone's chasing."

Looking over the figures from the 2020 season, the family averaged $177 a prime lamb, while their June/ July drop Merino wether lambs were weaned and sold in October at 35-37kg liveweight for $105.

To boost productivity even further, three years ago they pregnancy tested the Merino ewes joined with Poll Dorset rams and culled the dry ewes.

The following year, they decided to pregnancy test all 2000 ewes to ensure they weren't carrying unproductive females, with the exception of the maiden mob which is given a second chance to conceive.

As a direct result, in 2020 they culled 170 dry ewes and this year that number was reduced to 105, as they slowly consolidate their breeding stock.

They carry out their pregnancy testing in April, which Mr Squiers admits is a little late in the breeding schedule but it's when they can fit it in around their 50:50 cropping and sheep program.

As it's quite late in the pregnancy for the ewes, they can't accurately determine if the ewes are carrying twins, so they've never split twin ewes for extra feed from the main mob, but Mr Squiers said that could be a consideration going forward.

He has also recently purchased three Ezy Feeders to further maximise feeding efficiencies, potentially setting up a small feedlot operation for their lambs, but he's still waiting to see how the season is shaping up and if it will be required this year.

At this point, after a very wet winter, there is plenty of feed around for their sheep to graze and Mr Squiers expects his F1 Poll Dorset-Merino lambs to thrive in these ideal seasonal conditions.

The family made another investment in their sheep operation in July 2020, installing new sheep yards at two sites, improving sheep handling and ensuring their sheep production works as efficiently as possible.

With such investments and improvements, Mr Squiers said they are keen to continue to ensure their Merino and prime lamb operation are as efficient as possible, with the Poll Dorset powering their lamb production long into the future.