Kojonup, Wagin and Kulin among Australia’s top sheep-producing regions

Three of Australia’s top 10 sheep-producing regions are in WA, new figures have revealed, with Kojonup narrowly pipping Wagin for the second top spot. Victoria’s Southern Grampians claimed top honours with 2.36 million head of sheep and lambs. Kojonup in WA’s Great Southern and Wagin, in the Wheatbelt, were home to 1.73 million and 1.64 million head, respectively. Kulin, also in WA’s Wheatbelt, was sixth with 1.23 million head of sheep. The figures, based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2021 records of livestock numbers by local government area, came as a surprise for Kojonup farmer Steve McGuire. “Kojonup is traditionally a strong sheep area but there’s been a heavy swing to cropping, and if you drive down the road, every second or third paddock is in crops,” he said. “I’ve probably stayed more sheep heavy than most farmers in Kojonup. “When I came back to the farm 30 years ago, I was 30 per cent cropping and that was probably above average. What I’m cropping now is pretty similar, and it’s probably very much below average now.” The WAFarmers vice-president said Kojonup was well-suited climatically for sheep, which he joked “don’t get bogged like machinery”. “It’s a productive area and we get the high stocking rates, obviously,” Mr McGuire said. “We’ve been traditionally a bit too wet and frost affected for cropping, but cropping is now a very important part of Kojonup agriculture. “But it’s still a very good place to run sheep. We’re obviously seeing a lot more prime lamb production now than we used to, but Kojonup is still synonymous with producing top quality wool.” Mr McGuire said sheep production could be a very rewarding enterprise and young women were increasingly taking an interest. “The up-and-coming sheep farmer in Kojonup is just as likely to be a woman as a man,” he said. “A lot of younger women are running the show. In the industry in general, and our area in particularly, there’s a significant number of young women picking up the baton and running with it. “The good thing about sheep is that you get rewarded for management; if you manage them better and put the time and effort in, you can generally get good returns. But it is labour-intensive as well.” The figures were less surprising to Wagin Shire president and local farmer Phil Blight, who has also observed “the emphasis drifting towards cropping”. Home to WA’s biggest sheep show, Wagin Woolorama, Mr Blight described Wagin as a “good, reliable and traditional sheep growing area”. “There’s probably a lot of factors, but the climate that we have here is pretty stable, which means it’s in the zone that’s not too wet and not too dry,” he said. “It gives us a pretty good growing season. . . and I think the land lends itself to fairly high stocking rates. “It’s fairly strong country with good, heavy soil over a reasonable amount of the Shire, and a high percentage of arability.” Mr Blight runs about 2500 mostly Merino breeding ewes and crops up to 1000ha of canola, wheat, barley, oats and lupins. Despite the steadily declining size of Australia’s flock, he said enthusiasm for sheep did seem to be growing. “There’s been a lot of research done on yield improvement in cropping, and that’s shown a lot of positives and made cropping look very attractive, but right now the input costs of cropping have turned that over a bit, and that makes sheep look attractive again,” Mr Blight said. “There’s also been a bit of work done by Meat and Livestock Australia and the likes around improved pastures and better genetics. “So we’re actually starting to see a bit of a lift in production based on research outcomes, whereas we were getting that traditionally just from clearing more land.” The ABS data revealed 10 local government areas with sheep and lamb populations above one million. MLA market information analyst Stephen Bignell said it was “interesting” to note WA’s strong presence in the top 10. “Only one of these top 10 regions were in Victoria, despite its larger total sheep population,” he said. “Further data on Merino breeding ewes over one year demonstrates well established production trends across the country, with WA and NSW heavily skewed towards Merinos and wool production.” Wagin claimed top spot for Merino breeding ewe numbers, with 797,936 head, while Kojonup was second (791,664 head) and Southern Grampians third (620,874 head). TOP SHEEP- AND LAMB-PRODUCING REGIONS