Easy management the drawcard for the Jenkins

EASY management was the standout trait drawcard about the Prime SAMM breed for John and Joan Jenkin.

The Jenkins run a mixed farming enterprise comprising of sheep, cattle and cropping in Tooraweenah in central-west NSW.

The Jenkin's property Bringle is spread out across 1417ha where they run 2000 breeding ewes.

According to John, they first came across the Prime SAMM breed about three years ago when he was chatting to Phil Swain from Peak Hills, NSW.

At the time, John was looking for a more versatile breed to capitalise on the prime lamb market, but also retain some Merino wool content.

(above: John Jenkin and his first cross Prime SAMM ewes).

"They suited what I was looking for," John said.

Incorporating the Prime SAMMs had been a gradual process, which began when he purchased six rams and joined them over his Merino ewes.

It has steadily continued from there and last year, John purchased a stud ram.

They are almost at the stage now where they are running a full contingent of Merino Prime SAMM cross ewes.

John is aiming for a pure Prime SAMM flock and is close to achieving that goal, with third cross Prime SAMM lambs now on the ground.

Although the results have not been immediate, John said he had seen progress since he introduced the breed into his program.

"They are easier to manage than other cross bred ewes, which is what I was after," he said.

"They are better doers and don't need to be hand-fed as much."

When choosing sires, John favours meat and muscle, and looks for the ability to produce a good meat lamb.

They still run some other cross bred ewes for prime lambs and whilst the Prime SAMM lambs have not been as good as them in growth rates, John said they were not far behind.

"They are certainly way in front of the Merinos," he said.

"Initially the processors were a bit hesitant to give us cross bred prices for our lambs and they only quoted us Merino prices.

"Now that they've killed some there is no problem, they give us the same prices as the second cross lambs."

About 90pc of the Jenkin's lambs are sent to the export trade, so they generally have to be 22kg dressed weight or better.

This year John lotfed his lambs, which were aged from eight months and onwards, and managed to get them out to 25kg dress weight.

Price-wise, they received up to 360-380c/kg for the best dressed weights this year and John said he was very happy with those prices.

"We didnÕt have any problems with fat scores and the processors are pretty heavy with their penalties," he said.

"The trait with the Prime SAMMs that we noticed is that they tended to put on meat rather than fat.

"So we didn't have any issues with high scores, which we were happy about."

Joining takes place in January for a winter lambing and John said they had an average lambing percentage of 120pc.

He said the Prime SAMMs had been very easy lambers, even with the maidens, and his lamb growth rates had been strong.

On the wool side of things, John said he had received good prices from the Prime SAMMs, although they had not been as good as Merinos.

"I'm pretty happy with the wool," he said.

"We concentrate more on the meat side of things although we might need to show a bit more focus on the wool down the track.

"With our cropping program we run Lucerne paddocks as a rotation crop and that falls into place with the prime lamb side of things."

Coming off five years of hard seasons, John said thankfully this year they had had a good break, even though it was a late one.

The Prime SAMMs had done well through those tough years, and were good feeders and even going into the feedlot situation they put muscle on and not fat.

John said he was very happy with the performance of the Prime SAMMs and although it had not yet made a big impact on the profitability of his enterprise, he planned on sticking with the breed in the future.

"I'm confident that it will have an impact on the bottom line," he said.

"We're still coming out of the Merino ewes, so the growth rates haven't quite been there but now I'm noticing with the second cross Prime SAMMs, the growth rates are definitely better.

"It's getting very close to being where I want it to be."

By BETH JOHNSTON, Farm Weekly.

Photo courtesy of Farm Weekly.