"Pretty hard culling" has meant a slow build-up of his Australian White flock, but Scott Baker says its the best process to keep his flock true to type.
Mr Baker, his wife Hannah and their family run a commercial Australian White Flock operation at their Doonkami Australian White Stud near Yetman, just south of the Queensland/ NSW border.
With an eight-kilometre frontage on the McIntyre River, the Bakers also grow dryland cotton, wheat, barley and oats across 3035 hectares.
"The breeding focus for our Australian White flock is producing a high-quality eating sheep with high marbling meat that has a low fat melting point," Mr Baker said.
"We are very particular about staying true to type.
"We cull any animal with too much wool, particularly on its back. Around 98 per cent of our flock is haired and that's what we are looking to continue."
The Bakers have been breeding sheep for just over 10 years on the 118 year old Doonkami property, and while their aim was always to breed meat sheep, Aussie Whites were not the first choice.
"I was offered some country to run stock on," Mr Baker said.
"I grew up on a farm running Merino sheep but hadn't had any sheep for a while and my first thought was Dorpers.
"Then I came across the scientific research and breeding done by Tattykeel Stud at Oberon and ended up with Aussie Whites."
Fast forward a few years and the Bakers run 1500 commercial Australian White ewes at their Doonkami Stud, sired exclusively from Tattykeel bloodlines.
"In 2020 we were approached to sell direct to customers and now sell exclusively to Our Cow at Casino," Mr Baker said.
Our Cow is an online business created by farmers which provides grass fed and organic meat direct to consumers.
Originally only dealing in beef, Our Cow now offer organic chicken, free range pork and grass fed lamb.
To date, the Bakers have sent 1025 Aussie Whites to Our Cow, via Yangan where they are processed by Carey Bros Abattoir.
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On the home front, the Bakers are looking to grow their business.
"We double join our flock to produce around 1800 lambs a year, including ewe lambs," Mr Baker said.
"Our aim at the moment is to increase our flock numbers to around 3000."
Lambing generally takes place in February/ March and August/ September.
The Doonkami flock is run on mostly natural pasture, with some forage crops included, depending on the season.
The McIntyre River frontage has caused a few issues over the last year.
"During the floods, 80 per cent of our country was underwater so we really had to plan in advance and obviously move the sheep to higher ground," Mr Baker said.
Extremes of weather is something the Bakers are very familiar with.
"We went from our drought to flood in three years," Mr Baker said.
"In 2019, we recorded our lowest rainfall ever of 160 millimetres and in 2021 recorded over 1000 millimetres for the year.
"When the drought broke, we were sitting home one Sunday afternoon and suddenly had a downpour of 80 millimetres."
The latest management decision for the Australian Whites sees the Bakers looking to move the ewe portion of their stock further west and finish lambs at the home property.
Impressed with the breed and the genetics of Tattykeel, the Bakers were part of the Elite Syndicate which purchased the Tattykeel ram, Platinum ET210184 ram for a record $240,000 in September 2022.
The ram will be used for AI and ET programs to maximise breeding potential.
Mr Baker said selling exclusively to Our Cow has had benefits besides the premium price they receive for their sheep and sees it creating a connection between country and urban areas due to traceability.
"I love that we can see the feedback from consumers," Mr Baker said.
"It's great to see our brand being enjoyed all over the country and it's very cool to see a post of someone with your product.
"I think it's a big point of difference seeing branded meat and not just meat bought at a supermarket which is packaged all the same."
