The most profitable sheep for outside Goyder's Line? Reviving the MeatMaster
When Mick Flak bought a property at World's End in the Mid North about a decade ago, he quickly learned in a string of much drier seasons it was not the best country to run Merinos.
Instead, his research into the most profitable sheep for running outside Goyder's Line - in less than 200 millimetre rainfall - led him to a couple of low-input, shedding breeds.
The MeatMaster - founded in the late 1990s by Denis Russell from Genelink, Parilla - was one of them.
It is a cross between a Damara and Wiltshire Horn with later crosses to a White Dorper.
When Mr Russell retired in 2013, the best of the sheep were sold to a large-scale sheep enterprise in western Qld.
But now Mr Flak hopes to propel MeatMasters back into the spotlight, in what is believed to be the first auction for the breed in more than a decade.
Riverview MeatMasters' inaugural spring ram sale will be held next Wednesday, November 5, on StockLive.
The catalogue will include 20 2024-drop MeatMaster rams.
These have only been foraging paddocks or grazing some of the 20,000 saltbush plants now growing on the property..
Mr Flak says it has been "quite a journey" chasing genetic material from Mr Russell's former clients across the country, to have a diverse enough gene pool to breed sheep that can be profitable without damaging the environment.
Mr Russell has become a trusted advisor, helping guide Riverview's breeding program and classing the sheep.
"We can't just buy MeatMasters anywhere so we have to breed them, and in that process, we have ended up with surplus animals that still fit our selection criteria," he said.
"They were far too good not to bring them to market to show people."
Mr Flak had also been running Sheepmasters, a breed originating in WA, but in the past two years, the drought bit hard and forced him to make a choice.
All of the Sheepmaster ewes have gone with the last few rams in the sale. The flock now comprises 400 MeatMaster ewes.
"The Sheepmasters are beautiful sheep, but they are not really for our environment, they are better suited to a higher rainfall area," Mr Flak said.
"Being a medium-framed animal, MeatMasters don't eat as much, they browse more and don't need the same level of grass inputs to convert into meat.
"Even though we haven't had a lot of rain, we have grown some feed, and in the next few weeks we will be able to turn off 50 to 55 kilogram lambs over the hooks."
Mr Flak sees the MeatMasters having an important role in adding fertility to established shedding flocks that have concentrated on meat production for years.
A long-term trial at the University of Adelaide's Roseworthy Campus looking at drought resilient farming practices is also affirming the MeatMasters' maternal attributes.
"It is only early days, but the MeatMasters are performing well," Mr Flak said.
Mr Russell is pleased that Mr Flak is bringing MeatMaster sheep back into the spotlight.
"Their niche for survivability and being able to hold sheep through droughts, but then that quick growth when feed comes along hasn't changed," he said.
"The reproductive thing is interesting too, if you cut down to half your numbers, but then you have two lambings, you have your ewe flock back up without spending any money buying in ewes."
Mr Russell accepts that there is more education of the breed needed in southern states, with much of the interest in the upcoming sale from western NSW and Qld.
"Everyone who sees them in their natural environment is won over by them," he said.
Details: https://stocklive.nextlot.com/auctions/1775801/lots
