A targeted and refined approach produces some of the best white wools in WA

Tucked away among tree farms in what traditionalists would call cattle country, a productive little Narrikup block is significantly enhancing Merino production figures for Hamish and Natalie Milne and their adult children Harry, Evie and Greta.

While their 1991-purchased 3000 hectare home farm Glen Turret, with its historic family ties and panoramic views of the Stirling Ranges at Borden, has sustained an impressive flock of Merinos for more than 100 years, Hamish and Natalie's acquisition of 300 hectares of clover-based pasture and bush has really pushed the sheep operation to reach new heights as it evolves with each generation.

Hamish's grandfather Malcolm Milne registered the Borden-based Yardup Merino stud in 1927.

Built upon historic Cappeedee bloodlines, the stud's breeding stock lineage stretched back to the South Australian Merinos brought to WA when Hamish's maternal great grandfather William W. Murray took up land at Glen Turret and paternal great grandfather David Milne settled farmland at Moana just up the road, prior to 1910.

Farm Facts

• Owners: HJ & NG Milne
• Located: Borden and Narrikup
• Flock composition: 1700 breeding ewes joined to Poll Merino and Poll Dorset rams

Subsequently, Hamish's father Kevin Milne was also a passionate wool man and following succession decisions and the restructure of the family business, those same Yardup genetics continue to run through the family's current commercial line.

Like many WA Merino producers, the Milne family's production direction has dramatically shifted away from the straightforward, early-day ideals of good mutton conformation and the ability to simply fill bales.

Instead, the family's passion for and deep commitment to a far more targeted and refined approach to producing premium white wools for the modern marketplace is abundantly clear.

Its flock has an 18.2 micron average and produces bright white wool that is regularly recognised with sale-topping prices.

The family's most recent clip was sold for a top price of 1664 cents a kilogram clean, in February this year.

Last year's bales made a top price of 1584c/kg in March 2024.

The superior clip has also been highlighted in more ways than one, including when a number of the Milne's bales were procured from the Fremantle woolstores on behalf of Qantas and turned into uniforms in the early 2000s.

Together, the family runs 1700 self-replacing commercial Merino ewes - 1100 of which are joined to Poll Merino rams and the rest to Poll Dorsets for prime lamb production.

In recent years the Milnes found themselves compromising on both their sheep operation and their 2300ha cropping program as they battled it out for available hectares.

In 2021 the decision was made to take a gamble and buy an additional block of land, not too far from home, that produced good feed and wouldn't need to be sprayed out each year to make way for cereal and pulse production.

That season was a baptism of fire.

As yellow tag lambs dropped to the ground, Narrikup recorded more than 500 millimetres of rain over a period of three months.

It was the wettest year in 100 years and the Milnes began to question what they had done.

But brighter days were ahead of them and as the clouds cleared, it became very apparent to Hamish and Natalie that the quality of their beloved stock and the time invested in scrupulous breeding decisions had stood up to the test.

"It was an horrifically wet year and we were nervous," Hamish said.

"But I was confident that our wools were good enough to stand up at Narrikup.

"We used to have a place down there in the 1980s where we'd run shippers.

"We had a lot of problems with coloured wool but our wools have improved hugely since then.

"Our breeding objectives have changed and now we don't see any colour at all."

The Milne family started the South Yardup Merino stud in 1996 and in 1998 purchased 250 ewes from Roger Shepherdson's Kebaringup Merino stud, Borden.

When the stud was deregistered in 2006, Hamish and Natalie invested in top-quality Anglesey Poll Merino genetics, but made the shift to Wiringa Park, Nyabing, when the Shepherdson family sold its Gnowangerup-based stud to the Hobley family at the end of 2018.

"We also bought a Jaloran ram from Jim Toll in 1990 which had been awarded Supreme Merino exhibit at the Wagin Woolorama that year," Hamish said.

"It did extraordinary things for our wool."

In recent years the family started purchasing rams from the King family's Warralea Poll Merino stud, Gairdner, as well as Mianelup Poll Merino sires from the Richardson family at Gnowangerup.

When buying rams, Hamish and Harry always opt for upstanding young sires with stylish, white and soft handling fleece, a long staple length and good conformation, which are essential to succeed, particularly at Narrikup.

"We stick to type and buy what we like, which isn't always a top-priced ram," Hamish said.

"But that's the fun of it, everybody likes a different type of animal.

"We also don't get caught up in looking for rams that are too thick because staple length also provides weight at the end of the day."

The 80 kilometre gate-to-gate trip from Borden to Narrikup makes for relatively straightforward management when it comes to feeding, yard work, transporting stock and shearing.

The family's 600 maiden ewes reside at Borden, while the remaining 1100 older ewes stay at Narrikup.

Although, depending on the season and the availability of feed and stubbles post-harvest, there is the flexibility for plans to change.

Rams are transported to Narrikup in early November for an early-April lambing, which this year resulted in a 105 per cent lambing figure for the Merinos.

The maiden ewes and some second lambers begin lambing in mid-May at the Borden property.

The family's unshorn Merino lambs are trucked to Glen Turret in October, put onto a paddock of standing, desiccated vetch and carried through until January.

The Milnes also utilise their bean and lupin stubbles to put weight into their lambs after harvest.

Ideally by that point, the prime lambs, which grow out exceptionally well at Narrikup, have already been sold.

This year's local meat markets included Beaufort River Meats, Fletcher International abattoir, WAMMCO Katanning and Geoff and Linda Bilney's Glenpadden Farms feedlot at Kojonup.

Replacement ewe lambs remain at Borden for another year to have their first lamb in drier conditions before they're moved back to Narrikup for subsequent seasons and any wethers are given feed priority while the other stock is shuffled around on the barley stubbles.

Despite the Narrikup farm's reliable rainfall bracket and flushes of winter and spring pasture, Hamish and Harry truck Baroota Wonder hay from Glen Turret and have plans to cut pasture for hay at Narrikup in the future.

"We have good-framed sheep and I'm not a big believer in over-feeding," Hamish said.

"Due to the upcoming closure of the live sheep trade we will now likely need to look at getting lambs off sooner by adapting our feeding program."

The family has also worked hard to manipulate the Narrikup farm's pastures by putting in drainage systems to better manage significant rain events and provide higher, drier and more protected pockets of grazing for their Merinos.

"The farm recorded 120mm of rain in one February night this year," Hamish said.

"I went down there the next day expecting carnage but it was like the rain had never been there, the water had largely drained away."

The Milne family's main shearing takes place in January, starting at Borden before Narrikup.

Before being sold, any cull ewe hoggets are shorn in September when the ewes are crutched.

Each ewe cuts about seven kilograms, together they fill 80-100 bales and yields can reach anywhere up to 80 per cent, depending on the season.

"Shearing at Narrikup is a joy," Hamish said.

"The difference in the wool production and characteristics between adult sheep at Narrikup and Borden is huge but the micron stays exactly the same."

Although the Milnes aren't "big on figures," Harry said his father preferred the more traditional, hands-on approach to selecting rams and classing ewes on their wool merits.

And Harry is also taking a keen interest and learning the ropes during his second season at home on the farm.

"Going by the look and the feel of the fleece is what has always been done," Harry said.

"We don't have any interest in short staple, regardless of the quality of the rest of its characteristics."

Hamish, Natalie, Harry and Evie also class all their own ewes and run their hands and eyes over every single ewe in the yards throughout the year.

Some hoof trimming is necessary at Narrikup due to the softer soils.

Both Hamish and Harry said they were proud of what they had continued to achieve and thought they were in possession of some "pretty special" wools.

"When we do our classing we still get those ewes that come through and I think, she's a stud ewe," Hamish said.

"And it's actually a really nice reward for effort."

In looking to the future the Milnes are keeping an open mind when it comes to animal health.

Evie is currently studying homeopathy in the hope of complementing the general health of the sheep and is having success treating some common ailments such as foot abscess and mastitis.

But at the end of the day Merinos are still profitable and are a very important part of the family's business.

As is the nature of supply and demand, the challenge will be trying to keep sheep economical in the annual budget in future years.

"There's no easy answer," Hamish said.

"But at the end of the day we love shearing and we can't wait for the wool results to come back.

"The sheep are very rewarding and we're very passionate about it.

"We trust ourselves and our sheep.

"People will say you can't successfully run Merinos on the type of country that we do at Narrikup but we backed ourselves, believed that our wools were good enough and took the leap."