Lamb backgrounding for Western Australia
Report author: Grahame Lean, Agrivet Business Consulting
Backgrounding of lamb in Western Australia (WA) could be an intermediate market for WA lambs that have not yet achieved slaughter weights. This could even out lamb supply to processors through the year and leave more feed on breeding farms for the ewes to increase lamb production. To determine whether lamb can be successfully backgrounded, regions of Victoria where lamb backgrounding is established were compared with areas of WA.
Comparison with the Victorian industry suggests that there is some potential for the high rainfall South West region of Western Australia to background lambs, supplied with store lambs from regions like the Great Southern. This could significantly grow the lamb industry in WA due to better supply management through the year but also make the industry much bigger in total and more profitable. Forward contracts would have a role in profitable lamb backgrounding.