Namoi River Lamb

31/08/2025

A holding paddock near the yards is filling with unmulesed Dohne Merino sheep. What's next? Whirr go the shears!

10/04/2025

17/12/2024

We've been running a low key pilot programme on this project this year. Happy with the results and have a clear idea of the target market and the business model needed to offer supply. Next year will see some investment that builds a platform for growth.

16/12/2024

Bib and Bub have graduated from the chook run and are enjoying the wide open spaces of the drive-way.

30/08/2024

Well, it's worked, Plan B that is. A month or so ago we sent two big wether lambs to a bloke down the road to be processed and the results were highly professional. All family members selected as tasting guinea-pigs have survived the experience. Technically, we can scale this venture up to 500 sheep per year on current infrastructure. But when you start researching food processing and marketing, together with the required training of personnel, the barriers to entry are high. The time commitment is potentially considerable too. It follows sub-contracting is the only way ahead, focussing on on-line marketing.

22/05/2024

Well, we applied to Our Cow as a supplier of quality lamb but never got a reply. 'Unsubscribe!'

Back to Plan A, although we may try one other operation in this space.

Anyway, we think the sheep market is turning. We were all set to bid at Auctionsplus on some lines of scanned in lamb Dohne ewes just up the road at Barraba. Come the day and they never hit the market. May have sold before auction.

11/04/2024

One of our ideas has been the paddock to plate business model. Easier said than done, but the economics remain compelling.

Took a small load of two-tooth wether lambs to Tamworth the other day. They'd been shorn, finished on lucerne and looked fantastic. Rewarded with $50, and $15 for those deemed to be hoggets. Hadn't tried to sell sheep for over six months. No rush to repeat the experience.

Efforts to get local kill and processing didn't pan out too well. The bloke who was going to do the work had an industrial accident with his band-saw. Will leave it at that. The alternative is to send sheep to Cowra. No thanks.

So, have applied to become an accredited supplier to 'Our Cow'. Great looking FB page and website. Waiting for a reply...

22/01/2024

Continuing our professional development, and filling a gap in our knowledge we've been watching the movie 'The Drover's Wife'.

Greatly relieved by the recovery in lamb prices, once the silly season is over (next week) and everyone is back at work, we can get a few things done.

16/01/2024

Working on it. Various options being researched and considered.

Here's our recent training movie:

A hard-drinking but hard-working gun shearer leads a group of Outback sheep herders into striking after wealthy landowners attempt to drive them from their t...

17/10/2023

I get that it's frustrating when a farm doesn't have a particular special.... but for those of you who don't know....

1. We are a marketplace of independent farmers.

We are NOT a monolithic meat brand shifting the value from the farmers into our own pocket with standardized offerings and mass distribution... That would probably be easier but not really what we're going for!

2. They set their prices and product options

3. Those product options are heavily dependent on the scale of their farm and their relationship with their local butcher.

4. No, I don't make a farmer run a sale or sell a particular product into a particular area.

5. No I CAN'T make a farmer run a sale.

6. We don't have farms everywhere yet. It's something I am working on and will push for a lot more once V2 is up and running... Which is unfortunately taking longer than I'd like.

You CAN find YOUR local options and filter by freezer size, price on our website www.halfacow.farm

06/08/2023

It’s getting warmer and the lads have had their spring clip. They’ve been vaccinated, but not drenched with some long withholding period medication.

What these Dohne Merino wether lambs really want is to leave home in search of new horizons. A job as a lawn mower on a small acreage block would do nicely for the next three months or so, or even longer, and then….

Dohnes are bred to have better meat quality than pure Merinos, while growing the same high quality wool.

We’re prepared to let them leave home in groups of nine and are willing to deliver them to their new homes.