Montrose Hill Merinos cut the wool and pay the way

In the best run of seasons he has seen in a lifetime, 71-year-old breeder George McKenzie says now is the time to make money in Merinos.

It is the versatility of Merinos that has ensured the breed remains at the forefront of sheep and wool production in Australia, according to Montrose Hill Merino Stud principal George McKenzie.

“The backbone of the rural industry is still Merinos,” he said.

“When you look at ewes cutting $100 of wool, lambs selling for several hundred dollars and the option of wethers, it’s a lucrative business.”

Montrose Hill Merinos was founded in 1968 at Illabarook in western Victoria and George and his wife, Helen, have continued to source the best genetics to enhance production and retain a superfine wool micron.

“We select for conformation, constitution and bulk of fleece,” George said.

“The major facet of sheep breeding has to be constitution. You’ve got to have an animal that is thrifty. Nature throws a lot of things at an animal – bad nights, drought or extremely wet conditions – and an animal has to be able to go out there and thrive despite that.”

The McKenzies run 4500 sheep on their 560ha property, including 1500 stud animals.

They join 2200 ewes each year from 1.5 years of age and lambing percentages sit at 90 per cent.

George McKenzie from Montrose Merino Stud at Illabarook with his rams. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Ewes are joined in March, shearing is conducted late autumn and lambs are weaned in November each year. The average micron is 17.2 and fleece weights for adult sheep are up to 7kg.

The ewe flock is classed every year and kept on performance so that when they reach seven years of age “they will be the best of the best”.

“We class the stud and commercials the same way,” George said.

“Any of those excess ewes we join them to terminal sires. The lambs averaged $190 last year as young lambs out of a ewe cutting over $100 worth of wool.

“I would say that’s a fairly lucrative business. That was out of ewes that were surplus to our requirements.”

Wethers are run up to four years old and either sold at Ballarat or over the hooks depending on prices.

“We are opportunist traders with the wethers,” George said.

“The beauty of having wethers is that in the event of a bad season we have something to offload quickly. Wethers play an important part of the operation.”

George McKenzie from Montrose Merino Stud at Illabarook with his rams. Picture: Zoe Phillips

The McKenzies stocking rate is 10 DSE/ha and the pastures are all improved via a regular cropping program.

“The only reason we crop is to grow our own sheep feed and improve our pastures. We’ll only crop the poorest pasture or the worst carrying capacity paddock,” George said.

“We grow summer crops and the lambs are weaned onto Lucerne. We grow rape as well and the cereals we grow are oats and lupins and sometimes wheat and we graze the stubbles.

“We try to keep small mobs and give the sheep at least a two paddock rotation.”

George said striving to grow better quality pastures was fundamental to any livestock operation and he aimed for a pasture mix that would grow in summer and winter.

“My profit driver is grass, absolutely,” he said.

“Then having the good animal genetics to make the most of it and really drive the production.”

Montrose Hill Merinos currently consists of two thirds horned and a third poll sheep with inquiry for the latter becoming stronger, particularly with younger clients.

George said the future of farming and that of the Merino breed was “exciting” and he expected a strong turnout for the annual field days, which were a good opportunity for clients to inspect at their leisure without obligation.

“When every commodity is up, it’s a great time to be farming,” George said.

“I’ve seen four perfect seasons in a row now. I’m 71 and it’s the best period I’ve seen in my lifetime.”