Australian SWEETWATER LAMBS

It’s been almost a year since we sat down and spoke with farmer Alex from Australian Sweetwater Crays, and a lot has changed on the farm since then. Multiple income streams are not uncommon on farms these days, with agritourism and farmgate sales at the forefront of this shift. We asked Alex to fill us in on the new additions that have taken up residence in his paddocks.

Since we last chatted you’ve expanded your business, which you indicated you were going to do in our last edition. Tell about the sheep in your front paddocks and why you have chosen this particular breed.

On top of the redclaw sales and our camping site, we have always had it in our minds to continue to grow and diversify. We chose Aussie White sheep because they are very low maintenance and taste delicious. They shed their own fleece so we don’t need to shear or dock them (their tails are actually very cute) and they breed quite easily.

How many in the flock and what are the stats on the growth and kilos etc…. where do you want the turnover to get to with this arm of your business?

We currently only have 28 ewes and a ram, but they have already had about 10 lambs in their first season and are now onto round two. One of the advantages of the breed is that they can breed multiple times a year and often have twins. We are still learning the ropes but have a friend who is very experienced with sheep giving us a hand. Still too early to have statistics but our plan is to grow the flock to about 100 ewes which means we should be able to sell about 150 lambs per year.

What’s the plan with sales, wholesale or retail?

We plan to sell both to restaurants and the public directly, the same as we currently do with our redclaw. Likely to be whole or half beasts as we aren’t really set up for retailing individual cuts just yet. We also plan to sell live animals to other farms for breeding and growout.

Is there a distinct flavour to the Australian Whites?

Australian Whites are marketed as the wagyu of the lamb world as they have a high intra muscular fat content and the fat melting point is about 10°C lower than normal lamb fat (33 vs 43). This makes it literally melt in your mouth. This coupled with the clean flavour and fine grained muscles makes it one of the favourite breeds of lamb for chefs around the country.

Can you also give readers an update on the production of the crayfish and any challenges you have faced in the past 6 – 9 months?

Our redclaw production is going well. We have taken it slower this past year to build up our breeding stocks and increase the average size on the farm as most of our customers are keen on the larger sizes that we offer. The redclaw basically go into hibernation over winter as the water temperature drops, but this Summer is looking like its going to be a busy one.

Have you got any other plans in the pipeline to share with us about the farm?

We have many plans in the pipeline, we just need to sell lots more redclaw and sheep to be able to fund them, haha. Doubling our redclaw ponds from 4 to 8 hectares is on the cards in the next 3-4 years, and after that we plan to build a restaurant on the farm which will largely use produce from the farm.

Sweet Water Crays, 4096 Beaudesert Nerang Rd, Tabragalba, 0429 990 826

WEBSITE sweetwatercrays.com.au

FACEBOOK @australiansweetwatercrays

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