IT'S been a long time between drinks for the Rogers family of Yarto Station, in the western Riverina district of NSW.
Starved of rain for many years, it's been a program of cutbacks, agistment and battling just to get their mob of sheep through.
But in 2008, the 17,400ha station - at Booligal, 100km north of Hay - got a lucky break.
While they received only 223mm of rain, it fell at the right times, with thunderstorms in March, followed by rain in April, May and June.
This allowed the Rogers to see the real potential of their Alma-blood sheep after a frustrating run of bad seasons.
And now, others will get the chance to see them, too, with the Rogers deciding to enter the Peppin Shaw ewe flock competition again for the first time since 2001.
Visitors to the Hay sheep sale last September would already have had a taste of the Yarto flock, when their young, shorn ewes topped their section of the market at $132.
At the time, Greg and Helen Rogers said they would have been happy with $100, so achieving 30 per cent more than they expected was "a bonus".
The tail-end of their wether lambs was sold at the same sale, for $64.50.
And while this price was near the top rate for wethers for the spring, it couldn't compare with the results for the main draft.
The Rogers had already sold most of their wether lambs in early September, after signing a contract with a processor at a rate of up to $4.50/kg carcass weight.
Premiums were paid for the heavier end, and this is where the Yarto sheep excelled.
"We averaged $91.50 for the 800 wether lambs we sent down, but the sweetest bit was that the top 450 averaged 22.2kg off grass and made $100 each," Greg said.
"It wasn't a bad return for five-month-old lambs."
The Rogers run a 3000-head breeding flock on Yarto, which is open grass country.
The story behind their entry of 2008-drop Merino ewes in the Peppin Shaw reflects the challenge it has been for the family to maintain their flock.
In October 2007, more than half the Yarto breeding ewes were agisted at Cobar, in NSW, where they produced the next generation of young ewes.
It was six months before the Rogers could bring their flock home, with many trips north to conduct basic checks and animal management programs.
Agistment has been one of the keys in keeping the flock going, with sheep also sent away in 2005 and 2008.
Shearing is held in August, crutching in January and lambing in March-April. Lambs are marked in May and weaned in July. Each August, the young 1 1/2-year-old ewes are classed by Ian Lilburne.
Years of careful selection have ensured the Rogers not only have a flock that can excel in the saleyard or abattoirs but also produce good amounts of wool.
Last year, the flock produced a line of AAAM wool that tested at 21.5 micron, 64.7 per cent yield, 101mm in length and 44 newtons/kilotex in strength.
"You always like to think that your sheep are getting better, and we have probably dropped a micron in our wool in the past 15 years," Greg said.
"But we have continually aimed to have a Merino that can produce both wool and meat and believe that we have something pretty close to a dual-purpose Merino."
Yarto will open to the public on the first day of the Peppin-Shaw competition.
