They have backed their judgement by gearing up the 25,000 ha property Wakefield near Isisford for large scale sheepmeat and wool production.

The grandsons of cattle industry doyen Sir James Walker, are prepared to challenge traditional sheep culture in their quest for success.

Both are eager to hone their skills, attending a cost of production course held in Longreach in September to critically analyse their enterprise.

The courses, also held in Cunnamulla and Goondiwindi, road tested a business management template developed through the Making More from Sheep Program and promoted in Queensland by Leading Sheep.

They were delivered by industry consultants Holmes Sackett who have an extensive sheep property data base which allows producers to benchmark their own performance.

“It’s difficult to know where your enterprise sits and this course was really helpful in giving us an insight into how we compare with others in the industry,” James said.

“There is no doubt some radical changes will have to be made to arrest the decline in the sheep industry,” he said.

The brothers are shaping their enterprise to capitalise on demand for meat using a Merino base flock crossbreeding with terminal meat sires.

They have been actively trading in sheep turning over about 60,000 head this year, backgrounding stock for abattoirs and developed a trade selling live sheep into Indonesia through Darwin.

They use an internet trading platform and James said there was a market for boxed Halal meat into Malaysia which they were exploring.

The property has been extensively improved and subdivided with fencing to manage a large scale sheep enterprise.

James said he was concerned that with declining flock numbers many producers had put sheep in the “too hard basket”.

“We are confident we can put a sheep production system in place that is both sustainable and profitable.”

“Ram selection is critical to the performance of our enterprise. We are looking to source crossbred rams in the local region to introduce hybrid vigour with a focus on meat production,” James said.

“We will use the cost of production calculator to benchmark our existing enterprise and I am also going to use it do some hypothetical modelling.

“The Longreach course was a good opportunity to evaluate some ‘outside the square’ options and I’m sure that we can put strategies in place to make more money out of sheep as a result,” James said.

Leading Sheep Program Manager Geoff Knights, 4620 8121

Attending the sheep and wool enterprise cost of production workshop in Longreach were, from left, Andrea Hewitt Industry Development Officer Sheep & Wool, Longreach, Paula Hollis “Weona” Winton, Ninian Stewart-Moore “Dunluce” Hughenden, Dan Walker, “Wakefield”, Isisford, Nick Walker “Rio” Longreach, Dwain Hoad, AACC Longreach, Mary Philp, Longreach, James Walker, “Wakefield”, Isisford, Pat Hegarty “Colanta” Longreach, Scott Morton, AACC Longreach, Sandy McEachern Holmes & Sackett, Rob Young AACC Longreach.